Hawks thrash Magic in Southeast Division home opener, 99-85

This is the clearest indication that the Atlanta Hawks are serious this year. the "Shock the World" theme is going to be the main phrase throughout the year and through the playoffs. Could it be? Could the Hawks be "good" this season? It sure doesn't look like a team that just made the playoffs on luck and have made no progress, the Hawks are a style-diverse team that can create

the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic played the first game of the season at Amway Arena in Orlando, and the Hawks trumped the Magic 99-85. The reason we say "thumped" or "crushed" or "dominated" is because the game was never even close after the first quarter.

In the first quarter, Orlando struggled early, making only three of its first 18 shots.

The Hawks dominated on the boards early, and held the Magic without a point for nearly six minutes near the end of the first quarter in building a 23-8 lead. Rashard Lewis, Micheal Pietrus and backup point guard Anthony Johnson, keyed a second quarter run that cut Atlanta’s halftime lead to 47-40, but that was as close as the Magic got in the game.

The Hawks exploded out the gate in the 3rd quarter to a 27-15 scoring advantage, which made the score 74-55 going into the 4th, and the Hawks' Joe Johnson made sure the Hawks kept the lead with his 10 points in the 4th quarter as the Hawks won 99-85.

STATS

Josh Smith - 17 pts 10 rbs 5 blks 4 stls

Joe Johnson - 25 pts 7 rbs 2 asts

Dwight Howard - 22 pts 15 rbs 5 blks

Out of every NBA basketball "expert" or "analyst" only 3 writers of ESPN picked the Hawks to make the playoffs, Chris Broussard, Jalen Rose, and Chris Sheridan, and only Scoop Jackson was brave enough to go against the grain and pick the Hawks to win the Southeast division. Now, even we at PlayoffsHawks don't know about the Hawks getting a better record than the Magic, but i know we are capable of being better than the Wizards, Heat, and BOBCATS, whom will probably be the worst team in the league this season for Larry Brown to finally retire permanently. We could really challenge the Magic for the division title, then maybe THEN people might start noticing the Hawks are good.