Magic Topple Hawks, 105-86

The Orlando Magic defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 105-86, at Amway Center on
Saturday night. The Magic (22-38) made one major move at the trade deadline,
sending Serge Ibaka to the Raptors for swingman Terrence Ross. The latter found
himself behind DeMar DeRozan and DeMarre Carroll at shooting guard and small
forward, respectively, in Toronto. However, he’s stepped right into the starting
role at the three in his new digs, and the results have been impressive so far.
Ross particularly shined Saturday, tallying 24 points, four rebounds, two
assists, two steals and one block to lead the offense. The Magic also stymied
the Hawks (32-26) on the other end of the floor, limiting them to respective
38.1 and 32.0 percent success rates from the floor and three-point range and
also goading them into 17 turnovers. Tim Hardaway, Jr. spearheaded the Hawks’
attack with a modest 15 points that he complemented with three rebounds and one
steal. A quartet of 11-point efforts from Dwight Howard, Paul Millsap, Taurean
Prince and Dennis Schroder followed. Howard added 14 rebounds, one assist and
one block against one of his former squads; Millsap supplemented his scoring
with seven rebounds, two assists and one block; Prince also hauled in four
boards and recorded a steal and a block; Schroder, coming off the bench after
serving a one-game team suspension Friday, supplied eight assists, five rebounds
and one block. Newly-acquired Ersan Ilyasova mustered only five points but
posted 10 rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench. Ross was seconded by Aaron
Gordon, who went for 18 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Nikola Vucevic, who’d been questionable coming in with a sore Achilles,
nevertheless tallied a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double that also included an
assist, two steals and two blocks. Elfrid Payton had a near triple-double with
15 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, two steals and two blocks. D.J. Augustin
led the bench with eight points and two assists. The Hawks head to Boston to
take on the Celtics on Monday night, while Orlando is off until Wednesday night,
when they’ll take on the New York Knicks at home.