The Atlanta Hawks pulled off an impressive playoff victory Saturday night, beating the Orlando Magic by 10 in Amway. Pretty surprising, but let me put it this way: Larry Drew outcoached Stan Van Gundy by forcing Orlando to play two-on-five.
Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson combined for 73 points, but Howard also gave up eight turnovers, five personal fouls, and a technical foul. No slight to coach Drew, of course, but few media members and fans expected to score round one for the Hawks.
Game two will also be played in Orlando on Tuesday night before the show heads to Atlanta for what the Hawks are billing as a fan white-out game -- a "Dwightout," and no, I didn't make that up. The schedule for the series' next game and beyond:
- Game 1: Hawks defeat Magic in Orlando, 103-93 (1-0)
- Game 2: Tuesday, April 19 @ Orlando 7:30 p.m. NBA TV, Fox Sports South, 97.9 FM
- Game 3: Friday, April 22 @ Atlanta 8:00 p.m., ESPN2, ESPN3D, Fox Sports South, 97.9 FM
- Game 4: Sunday, April 24 @ Atlanta 7:00 p.m., TNT, SportSouth, 97.9 FM
- Game 5*: Tuesday, April 26 @ Orlando, TBA, TBA, TBA, 97.9 FM
- Game 6*: Thursday, April 28 @ Atlanta, TBA, TBA, SportSouth, 97.9 FM
- Game 7*: Saturday, April 30 @ Orlando, TBA, TBA, Fox Sports South, 97.9 FM
*- if necessary.
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