The Orlando Magic took the court for the first time since a series of blockbuster moves brought in Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Richardson, and it didn't go so well. The Magic were clearly feeling the effects of not having any practice time together, and fell to the Atlanta Hawks 91-81 on Monday night.
Magic Vs. Hawks: Gilbert Arenas, New-Look Orlando Struggles In 91-81 Loss
The big problem was a lack of offense, the one thing those three players were expected to fix. The Magic scored just 14 points in the first quarter and didn’t even make a field goal in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter. That was when the Hawks pulled away to get the victory.
The new guys didn’t really help much, scoring just 27 points combined on 8-23 shooting. Arenas was the biggest culprit, scoring just 10 points on 2-11 shooting. Turkoglu had eight points on 1-4 shooting, while Richardson scored nine points on 3-8 shooting. It shouldn’t be that surprising that they lack chemistry after one practice, but it was still striking to see.
SB Nation’s Orlando Pinstriped Post writes that the Magic looked exactly the same as they’ve looked over the past couple weeks.
Fans tuning in to learn something new about their team's remade roster were sorely disappointed, both in Orlando's performance and in the lack of answers tonight provided. Save for some of the folks wearing the uniform, this game is virtually indistinguishable from the Magic's seven losses in their last eight. On offense, the ball tended to die on one side of the floor, Howard struggled with his touch inside, and the three-point shots didn't drop at an acceptable rate. At the other end? The missed defensive assignments and poor performance on the glass--the Hawks grabbed 28.9 percent of their misses--sure looked familiar, didn't they?
Al Horford continued his breakout season for the Hawks, scoring 24 points on 10-15 shooting, while Mike Bibby helped put the Hawks in front in the third quarter, scoring 13 of his 15 points.
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