After one of the Hawks’ stranger games, you might say their 95-88 win over the Magic was about the shoes.
Jeff Teague changed his footwear at halftime after missing all six of his shots, and scored all 17 of his points in the second half to lead Atlanta (46-12) to its third straight win.
He made 6-of-9 shots in the second half, and all four of his free throws. Teague’s up-and-down night was analogous to the Hawks after they overcame the Magic and human nature in Philips Arena.
The Hawks took a 16-point lead in almost no time (the first 3:10) and made their first eight shots only to trail 45-42 at halftime after Orlando (19-41) outscored them 27-8 to close the first half.
“It was a bad half of basketball,” the point guard said of the superstitious decision to change his kicks. “We came out to a good start. I think we just got a little sloppy. I came in and beat myself up a little bit, and played better.
“I haven’t been that aggressive, getting in the lane, the last couple games. I thought tonight was a game where I needed to be more aggressive, get in the lane and make plays.”
For a while, the outcome looked obvious. Atlanta went up 19-3 on Paul Millsap’s 3-pointer with 8:50 left in the first quarter. He scored three long balls and 11 straight points in a period where he scored 14 of his 20.
It was more of the same to start the second quarter, when Shelvin Mack and Pero Antic hit consecutive 3-pointers for a 34-18 lead.
Then, the Hawks forgot what they were supposed to be doing, or the Magic knew what they were going to do. Their interim head coach, James Borrego, worked with Atlanta head coach Mike Budenholzer in the Spurs organization from 2003-‘10.
Atlanta turned the ball over 11 times from Antic’s shot up to halftime while the Hawks missed 13 of their final 16 shots.
“Maybe sometimes when it comes easy early, you don’t keep the crispness, the sharpness, the discipline that you need,” Budenholzer said. “[Orlando’s] hands, their activity was very good, and we weren’t as sharp or crisp as we needed to be.”
Teague, DeMarre Carroll, Kent Bazemore, Dennis Schroder and Mike Scott each committed two turnovers during that hideous stretch. How strange was that? Scott had one turnover total in his previous 10 games, and none in the past six.
The Magic made half their 22 shots in the quarter, and center Nikola Vucevic (21 points, 15 rebounds) was a consistent problem.
The second half was more familiar.
Teague did his thing and Horford scored 11 of his 17 points and grabbed nine of his 13 rebounds, and a 7-0 run early in the period turned the game for good. Consecutive scoring drives by Teague were good for a 58-56 lead with 6:50 left.
Orlando drew as close as three points twice in the final few minutes, but Teague countered with a pair of free throws after the first occasion, and hit a running 12-footer with 44 seconds left for a 91-86 lead to essentially close it out.
The Hawks would prefer that kind of consistency from start to finish.
“I think things kind of came easy to us,” Kyle Korver said. “We kind of got sloppy with details after that.”
