By Kyle Soppe
The Hawks consistency on Friday night powered them to a win over a team that nobody can figure out in the Orlando Magic, 89-87 in overtime.
Josh Smith filled up every part of the stat sheet, as he poured in 23 points, handed out 5 assists, grabbed 19 rebounds, and blocked 3 shots. The 24 combined rebounds and assists was the second highest total of Smith’s eight seasons. In the past five days, Smith has knocked down four his his five three pointers, not bad for a career 28% shooter. He came down with 44% of Atlanta’s rebounds, whereas “Superman” accounted for 34.6% of The Magic’s boards.
Speaking of Dwight Howard, the big man grabbed more rebounds (18) than field goals attempted (15) for the fourth time this month. He pulled down at least 16 rebounds for the 16th time this season. That means he averages 3 such games per week. For reference, elite rebounders Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, Chris Bosh, Marc Gasol, David Lee and Blake Griffin have had 9 total games with 16+ rebounds, a total that Howard eclipses on a tri-weekly basis.
Despite being double and triple teamed on multiple occasions, Howard managed to not record a single assist for the fifth time this year. Over the last 667 minutes of action for D12, he has notched 32 assists, the same number Linsanity has totaled in the past week (156 minutes on the court).
Smith, Joe Johnson, and Jeff Teague are the names everybody knows in Atlanta, but don’t count out the impact of Zaza Pachulia. He scored at least nine points for the tenth time, and the Hawks have celebrated victory on nine of those occasions. He also fought for 10 rebounds, improving the Hawks to a perfect 5-0 when his rebound total reaches double digits.
The Magic had the two highest point totals in a single quarter.
Bench production and free throw shooting are not strengths for either one of these teams, and never was that more true than last night. The ten starters scored 85.2% of the games points, while the teams combined to make less than 60% of their freebies. Their were five teams who made more free throws than Orlando and Atlanta combined but attempted fewer.
I’m a big fan of sharing the basketball, and believe that was a big reason for the Hawks victory (and the Magic’s struggles). Atlanta recorded a helper on 64% of their buckets, while only two out of every five Orlando baskets were set up by a pass.
When you talk about passing the rock, it is impossible to not acknowledge some of the great young talent we have at the PG position today. Tomorrows “Box Score Breakdown” will dive into Linsanity, as he faces off against Testigo in a battle of great nicknames and passing ability. Whose goin’ come out the victor, Jeremy Lin or Ricky Rubio?
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