(Sports Network) - Executions tend to have a little more suspense than the Eastern Conference semifinals series between the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks.
Game 4: Magic Looking To Put Hawks Out Of Their Misery, Sweep Series
Orlando took a commanding 3-0 series lead on Saturday when Rashard Lewis hit four three-pointers and ended with a team-high 22 points, as the Magic once again dominated Atlanta en route to an easy 105-75 win.
“We were looking forward to a hard-fought game, but we came out and played hard defense and built a big lead,” Lewis said. “We don’t want to jump ahead of ourselves. We want to take it one game at a time. We’re going to keep playing with a lot of intensity.”
A return to Dixie, where the Hawks went 34-7 during the regular season, figured to give Mike Woodson's club a boost after it lost the first two games of the series by a combined 57 points in Orlando.
Instead, a lifeless crowd and the Magic’s 50.7-percent shooting effort resulted in the 14th straight loss in conference semifinal games for the Hawks. Meanwhile, Orlando has won the first three games in the series by an average of 29 points.
"I don't see the effort," Hawks center Al Horford said. "We won 53 games for a reason but we get to the postseason, where the stakes are high, and we're not coming out there and giving the effort we need."
No team in NBA history has ever recovered from a 3-0 series deficit.
“It’s very disappointing,” Woodson said. “I figured we would come home and play at a high level and make a series out of it, but we were so flat coming out. I don’t think anyone saw this coming.”
Dwight Howard recorded 21 points and 16 rebounds, while Jameer Nelson and Mickael Pietrus chipped in 14 and 13 points, respectively, in Game 3 for the Magic, who have won 13 straight games dating back to the regular season.
"I think our guys were ready to play," Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy said. "What impressed me even more, we came out in the second half with the lead and didn't play as if we had a cushion. We continued to fight and defend very hard."
Jamal Crawford had 22 points, while Josh Smith added 15 and 11 rebounds for the Hawks, who shot just 34.9 percent from the field.
Horford and Joe Johnson totaled 11 and eight points, respectively, in the setback. Johnson, who is scheduled to become a free agent in the offseason, was particularly ineffective, making a mere 3-of-15 from the field for Atlanta, which is a dismal 0-13 all-time in conference semifinal series since the round was renamed as such in 1971.
Like Johnson, Woodson, who has built the Hawks from a 13-win team in 2004-05 to a 53-win club this year, also has an expiring deal and seemed almost resigned to his team’s fate on Sunday.
“This team is still headed in the right direction,” Woodson said Sunday. “If we can bring Joe back and I’m able to stay, we can complete the process we started six years ago. I sure hope they don’t go back the other way and bust it up.”
Orlando also took three of four games from the Hawks in the regular season and won the Southeast Division by six games over Atlanta. The two teams have met just one time previously in the postseason, a 4-1 Magic win in the 1995-96 Eastern Conference semifinals.
Game 5 in the series, if necessary, is set for Wednesday in Orlando.
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