The Hawks played one of their most energetic games Saturday night, when Ersan Ilyasova scored a season-high 26 points and Kent Bazemore added 19 and a couple huge defensive plays/dunks in the final minute in Philips Arena to trigger a 117-110 win over the Magic.
Here are five observations from a fun game:
I’ll say, Ilyasova?
The Hawks (6-19) started quickly as one might expect of a team that last played Wednesday, when Atlanta lost 110-106 in overtime in Orlando (11-19), especially since the visitors not only lost a night before at home but saw their travel plans boogered up until Saturday morning because Atlanta’s airport was snowed under.
Nobody, though, predicted Ilyasova scoring 10 of the Hawks’ first 14 points and 13 in the first quarter on the way to a 9-of-9 shooting night from the field.
He didn’t seem surprised that Atlanta led 32-22 after a quarter, nor shocked to become the first Hawk ever to make all nine field goals in a game, including five 3-pointers. No NBA player had done that since Bobby Jackson of the Houston Rockets on Jan. 11, 2008.
Yet Ilyasova didn’t even have a special feeling.
“Not really,” he said. “It was one of those nights, I guess . . . the way we play, everybody came out with a lot of energy. Obviously, we have to give them a lot of credit coming off a back-to-back. We knew we had to go at them in the beginning of the game. We played really well.”
No answer for Vucevic
With Atlanta big men Mike Muscala (sprained left ankle), John Collins (sprained shoulder) and Dewayne Dedmon (shin) all sidelined, the Hawks once again started Miles Plumlee at center. And suffered. He scored three points (missing all three of his shots from the field) with three rebounds, and Orlando center Nikola Vucevic went berserk on him.
The 7-footer from Montenegro scored 12 of his 31 points in the second quarter, when the Magic took a brief one-point lead in the middle of the period and pulled within 55-54 inside the final minute. Vucevic finished with game highs of 31 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple double.
Dennis Schroeder’s buzzer-beating 12-foot jumper from the left baseline gave the Hawks a 57-54 lead, but Vucevic wasn’t finished.
That was good for Orlando, which was missing leading scorers Aaron Gordon (18.5 points per game) with a concussion suffered Friday against Denver and Evan Fourtier (sprained right ankle).
“With a lot of guys out, he’s got to step up,” said Magic coach Frank Vogel. “He did that in a big way.”
Light on defense
With a couple of late exceptions to be noted shortly, there were no defensive clinics Saturday night, and especially not in the third quarter. The Magic closed to within 89-87 by period’s end upon 71.4 shooting, not only making 15-of-21 shots and 3-of-6 long balls, but assisting 13 times. That was normal.
Oh, and Vucevic happened again. And again. And again. He scored 15 points in the period, making 6-of-7 shots and all three of his trey tries. The Magic Montenegran scored from up close, from afar, from left, from right, from straight away and for good measure he added five assists in the period.
“He rebounded the ball. He created for others and knocked down shot after shot. He shot 13-of-18 from the field (including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers),” Vogel summarized. “It was just a heck of a performance.”
Uh, yeah. Absolutely.
But not if you’re talking about anybody’s defense. The Hawks shot 51.2 percent on the night, and tied a season high with 17 3-pointers made on 33 attempts. Only to be barely outdone, the Magic shot 48.9 percent while racking up a whopping 39 assists.
Keeping it tight
The Hawks surged to a 104-96 lead on Bazemore’s 3-pointer (he had three and it sure didn’t hurt that reserve forwards Marco Belinelli and Tyler Cavanaugh added three apiece) with 7:43 left in the game before Atlanta’s offense stepped out into the winter for a bit.
Vucevic went quiet, too, but the Magic made moves with forward Jonathon Simmons scoring 13 of his career-high 29 points in the final period, including 10 straight in a hurry to cut Atlanta’s lead to 104-102 on his dunk off a pass from former Hawk Shelvin Mack with 6:29 to go.
Orlando soon took the lead on a 3-pointer by swingman Mario Hezonja, who made his first start Saturday, and twice more the visitors would forge ahead.
Ilyasova missed 2-of-4 free throws in the period, and he wasn’t happy about that on an otherwise perfect night when he dished out four assists, grabbed three rebounds and did not turn the ball over.
“Those free throws, I was kind of disappointed,” he said in one of the several languages that the Turkish man can speak (and not the one he may have muttered a couple times on the court). “It is what it is.”
Vucevic’s final points, on a layup after a pass from Simmons, came with 1:12 left to give Orlando a 110-108 lead.
Dennis Schroeder tied the game on a pair of free throws with 56 seconds left, and then . . .
Bazemore bonanza time
Holy smokes, what a sequence to end this game.
The Magic had the ball with just over half a minute left, their two-man game between Vucevic and Simmons absolutely smoking, when they tried to inside-out the Hawks.
As Simmons drove wide right, Orlando’s center swung back deep toward center court, and looked to receive a back pass.
Bazemore anticipated it, sagged into the passing lane, tipped Simmons’ pass, scooped it up, and raced two-thirds of the court as if shot out of a cannon for a go-ahead dunk with 36 seconds left in the game.
“We made winning plays in the last 90 seconds of the game,” said Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer. “Kent Bazemore, his activity, his competitiveness . . . obviously, the steal in the middle of the court . . . “
Not long afterward, Bazemore was fouled at the other end after rebounding an air ball by Mack. He added two free throws with 21 seconds left.
Orlando head coach Frank Vogel called timeout.
The Magic soon inbounded from the sideline, Bazemore waving his arms in front of Mack like an octopus might.
Tipped ball. Scoop, drive, dunk.
With 18 seconds left, Bazemore did it again, and the Hawks led 116-110 on their way to victory for the second time in six games. They avenged Wednesday’s loss in Orlando on Kent’s tentacles.
“The activity, the length and arms on the inbounders makes it difficult [on the Magic] . . . “ Budenholzer said. “Tonight, to do it with our defense was huge. When you’re getting steals and laying it in the basket, getting free throws, it just makes everything so much easier those last 90 seconds . . . it’s very satisfying.”
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