Really, it comes down to a mental block. The Hawks’ offense was definitely not at its best during their meeting with the Magic, and it essentially fell back into playoff mode, with lots of poking around and taking jump shots. Those shots didn’t fall any better than they did back in May as the Hawks shot just 3-16 from three while the Magic were 9-19 from beyond the arc. As a whole, the Hawks shot just 30.8% while the Magic were 52.9%-extremely reminiscent of the playoffs.
I said earlier that the Hawks were looking for something to feel good about against their division rivals and they certainly didn’t find it tonight. Looking for a bright spot, I might be able to say that Zaza Pachulia had a halfway decent night, with 6 points and 4 boards in 12 minutes. Jason Collins even ended up with 7 points, but if the point is to get someone to help defend Dwight Howard, he’s not that body. Dwight only played 23 minutes, but he still had an easy double-double, 14 points with 13 rebounds. The bodies the Hawks have added really are just bodies-going deeper with the post rotation only means playing MORE guys who cannot guard Dwight Howard. Dwight’s 13 rebounds are more than every Hawk combined who played center tonight; 3 for Horford, 4 for Zaza, 2 for Collins, 1 for Josh Powell, and 0 for Etan Thomas.
The good news is that it’s still preseason. Marvin in particular looked really rusty, and we can still blame that on his lack of playing time while he’s been down with injuries. Hopefully the Hawks can just put this one behind them. They’ll be taking on Miami in preseason action Thursday.