Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
The NBA postseason began tonight and will continue for the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night when they host the winner of the Chicago Bulls/Miami Heat play-in game on Thursday.
Atlanta lost in Orlando by 25 points on Tuesday night.
The good: The Hawks won’t have to play the Boston Celtics in the first round.
The bad: The Hawks will have to win their next game in order to play the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round on Easter Sunday.
And even though the Atlanta Hawks were on the road in Orlando on Tuesday night, State Farm Arena was home to dozens of Hawks fans looking to see if their team could advance to the playoffs.
The matchup could not have been more even. The Atlanta Hawks were 2-2 against the Orlando Magic this season. In four games, the teams split home and away games. This year marked the fourth consecutive season the Hawks were in a play-in scenario for the postseason.
Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
Some of the differences between a regular game night or playoff game and a watch party were the amount of fans and the noise level. The concession stands and team store at State Farm Arena were open till halftime and locker room tours were made available for fans. Harry the Hawk, the team’s mascot, took photos with fans on the court during the game, something he couldn’t do during the regular course of play.
The game began with Atlanta jumping out to a 6-2 advantage before Orlando took their first lead, 17-15. The Magic would take its largest lead of the game midway through the first quarter on an Anthony Black three-pointer with 2:36 remaining. That lead would grow to 15 points at the end of the quarter. The slow start for the Hawks may have to do with Trae Young beginning the game 1-5. The sole basket came on a goal-tending call against Magic forward Jonathan Isaac.
The Magic lead would balloon to 20 points late in the second quarter. The Hawks began chipping away at the deficit with a three-pointer and free-throws from Young and a basket from Mouhamed Gueye.
Atlanta trailed the Magic 61-47 at halftime. Young led the way with 10 points. Gueye and Onyeka Okongwu had seven points each.
Atlanta began the second half with better energy, cutting the Orlando lead to 11 points early on. Young scored eight of the Hawks’ 10 points to start the second half. Baskets from Oknogwu and Gueye brought the Hawks to within seven points at 68-61.
12 points from Young during the third quarter helped Atlanta cut Orlando’s lead to just six points at the end of three quarters of play.
That would be as close as the Hawks would get as Orlando guards Cole Anthony and Anthony Black got hot and helped the Magic go up by as much as 27 points.
