Magic clutch defeats Hawks to avenge loss at Phillips Arena

Who says the preseason is boring? We saw a great game between division rivals at Phillips Arena on Monday night. PlayoffsHawks was at this game, sitting close to the Magic bench, and it was competitive and exciting throughout the entire game.

Dwight Howard seemingly dominated, he had 29 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Orlando Magic, and Rashard Lewis scored 25 points 8 rebounds, including the dagger free throws to put the Magic up by 4, then a jumper for the final verdict of a 109-103 preseason victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.

The Hawks were up 27-26 after the first quarter, but the Magic opened up a 39-29 lead 4 1/2 minutes into the second quarter. Johnson took over, scoring 10 points in the last 5 1/2 minutes of the half to pull the Hawks to 54-53 at the break.

Joe Johnson, who led the Hawks with 26 points, hit a 3-pointer with 1:10 remaining to pull the Hawks to 102-100. Howard responded with a 5-foot turnaround jumper to make it 104-100 with 54 seconds remaining.

Johnson followed with another 3, leaving the Hawks a point down, but the Atlanta star missed a 12-footer with 27 seconds left for the lead. Howard got the rebound and was fouled. He made one of two free throws.

The Hawks had one more chance, but Mike Bibby missed a long jumper with 15 seconds remaining. Rashard Lewis hit two free throws to clinch it, and added two more for the final margin.

Johnson also had seven rebounds and five assists. Josh Smith added 13 points and five assists, Al Horford had 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Bibby scored 13 points and doled out five assists.

Randolph Morris! the Sekou Smith beatblog favorite played the most significant minutes of his young NBA career last night. He played 17:36 at center, more than starter ZaZa Pachulia, 14:19, and had a much better stat line: 8 pts 3 rbs 1 ast, 7 pts 2 rbs.

Courtney Lee had the most impactful 13 points and 4 rebounds of any rookie i've ever seen, he plays a role similar to our sixth man, Flip Murray, if he is the Magic's sixth man he is going to give teams fits. He played crucial minutes in the 4th quarter and got such clutch rebounds. All of his points seemingly came from driving backboard layups, he shot no free throws, 1 of 2 from 3.

Orlando improved to 5-1 in the preseason, while the Hawks dropped to 4-3.