This time the Hawks responded.
After watching a 17-point lead disappear, the Hawks bounced back in the fourth quarter for a 83-78 victory over the Magic on Thursday night at Philips Arena.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak and was only the Hawks’ fourth win in the past 12 games. They head to the All-Star break with a much-needed victory — coming off a 1-4 road trip and playing their second game without leading scorer Joe Johnson.
Willie Green came off the bench and scored seven points in the final 3:06 — including a 3-pointer and a floating layup as the shot clock expired — for the dramatic win. The Hawks put the game on ice with seven free throws.
The Hawks enter the All-Star break sixth in the Eastern Conference, only 1 1/2 games behind the Magic for second place in the Southeast Division.
“I told the players, we will never position ourselves to where we make excuses for what has happened to us, given the injuries, given the travel schedule,” coach Larry Drew said before the game. “We have to be professionals. Certainly going into the All-Star break, this would be a very good game to get. Certainly we are right there with Orlando and a couple of these other teams. We would like to go into this break with a better taste in our mouth.”
Josh Smith led the Hawks with a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds. Jannero Pargo had 15 points, and Green finished with 14 points.
Dwight Howard, the NBA’s 10th-leading scorer, was held to 12 points, four in the second half. The Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy product was kept away from the basket for much of the night by Hawks center Zaza Pachulia. J.J. Redick finished with 13 points, including eight in the fourth quarter.
If the Hawks had tired legs they didn’t show early. They ran the Magic into a deep hole in the first half. However, a 17-point lead would nearly be gone after the third quarter.
Smith scored the Hawks’ first seven points and 14 in the first quarter. The Hawks used runs of 15-2 and 14-6 in the opening quarter to take a nine-point lead, 29-20. Smith put an exclamation point on his quarter with a dunk over the Magic’s Glen Davis.
Pargo scored 15 points in the first half, including 12 in the second quarter, as the Hawks built a 17-point halftime lead, 47-30.
The Hawks held the Magic to a season-low 30 points in the first half. The Magic shot only 32.4 percent in the first half, and each miss had the Hawks off and running. How bad was it? The Hawks held a 21-2 advantage in fast-break points, converting 10 of 11 chances.
The Hawks scored only 11 third-quarter points as the Magic cut the lead to three, 58-55, by ending the quarter on a 16-3 run. A Redick 3-pointer on the Magic’s first possession of the fourth quarter put the finishing touches on the Hawks’ once-large advantage.
Jeff Teague left the game in the third quarter after taking a Howard elbow to the eye. He returned to start the fourth quarter.
“Offensively we got a little stagnant to where we started to try to do it ourselves,” Drew said of the team’s recent woes. “We had two of our All-Stars [out], and sometimes players try to take it all upon themselves and try to do a little too much in those situations instead of staying within the team concept.”
