Hawks flattened in 120-95 Play-In loss to Magic

Win or go home Friday.

The Atlanta Hawks were in Orlando on Tuesday evening to face the Magic in the Play-In Tournament. The winner of this matchup would play the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs, while the loser will have to play again on Friday against either the Chicago Bulls or Miami Heat for a chance to play the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.

The Hawks and Magic have seen each other several times over the past few weeks, so they’re really familiar with how one another plays. Both play two different styles, and it would be key for the Hawks to set the tone.

The Hawks made sure to start fast with Trae Young finding Onyeka Okongwu for this lob.

Later on, Okongwu knocked down this 3-pointer at the top of the key.

The Hawks were in a slump for much of the first, and it led the Magic to go on a run and take a 17-point lead. Going into the second quarter, the Hawks were shooting 33 percent from the field and 13 percent from three.

After not getting anything going in the first quarter, Young found sort of a groove in the second and went coast-to-coast.

Zaccharie Risacher cut down the Hawks’ deficit with this nice 3-pointer.

Though the Hawks found some offense, they weren’t able to keep it going with the Magic locking in on defense. The Magic were also still clicking on offense, and the Hawks didn’t have an answer.

With the Hawks going down by as much as 21 points midway through the quarter, they had a sequence where they scored five straight points, due to the hustle of Mouhamed Gueye.

The Hawks continued to cut their deficit down by going to the line and getting timely buckets, and going into halftime, they trailed 61-47.

Young came out of halftime with a mission of being aggressive, and it helped the Hawks stay in the game.

Gueye was making plays on both sides of the ball and got an easy dunk to go for the Hawks.

Things kept going right for the Hawks throughout the third, and they were able to get it down to single digits after a Young lob to the Okongwu.

The Magic made a small run to extend their lead, but Georges Niang was able to hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer.

The fourth quarter did not start off well for the Hawks, and they found themselves down double digits once again. The Magic kept creating easy opportunities for themselves and started knocking down threes, and the Hawks didn’t have an answer.

Caris LeVert got this and-one to go to try and get the Hawks back into it.

In the end, the Hawks didn’t have enough to get back into the game, and the Magic got hot at the right time to run away with the win. Young also got ejected late in the game after picking up back-to-back technical fouls.

Young finished with 28 points and six assists, Niang finished with 15 points, and Okongwu finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, and three assists.

The Hawks will be back in action against either the Bulls or Heat at home on Friday.