Atlanta Hawks Lose To Orlando Magic 105-86

The Atlanta Hawks fell to the Orlando Magic 105-86 on Saturday night. Where did the game go wrong this time?

It’s been two pretty rough days for the Atlanta Hawks. This is not how they wanted to begin the playoff push. On Friday night, they received a blowout loss at the hands of the Miami Heat. The Heat lit up the nets from three-point range and Atlanta’s offense couldn’t come close to matching their performance.

Saturday night in Orlando was different, but more of the same. It was yet another blowout loss. The Hawks turned in a dismal offensive performance. They shot just 38.1 percent from the field and 32 percent from behind the arc.  A 14-for-26 effort from the free-throw line was also concerning.

More from Soaring Down South

• Start, Bench, Cut: Sorting through the Hawks’ power forward options
• Hawks’ Bogdan Bogdanovic reacts to earning FIBA World Cup championship bid
• When does training camp start for the Atlanta Hawks?
• Grade the trade: Hawks deal Trae Young to Clippers in shocking proposal
• Dejounte Murray rips NBA 2K after Atlanta Hawks ratings reveal

Tim Hardaway Jr. led the team in scoring with a 15-point night on 6-for-11 shooting. Dwight Howard had 11 points and 14 rebounds, but shot 5-for-13 on free-throw attempts. Paul Millsap had 11 points on 3-for-9 shooting and Kent Bazemore finished with nine points.

The blowout allowed for extended Taurean Prince minutes. You know me, anytime a blowout leads to more minutes for the rookies I can always find a silver lining. Prince finished with 11 points and four rebounds on 4-for-7 shooting. He played 27 minutes.

Dennis Schroder didn’t start for the second consecutive game. Schroder was held out of the starting lineup for being late for the team bus. Schroder’s early absence wasn’t what doomed the Hawks on this night. The game was close at half-time with the Magic holding just a three point lead.

Orlando didn’t make it rain from three-point land the way Miami did, but they had an efficient night inside. They shot a relatively efficient 45.7 percent from the field and made 23-for-24 of their free-throw attempts.

New addition Terrence Ross made a positive impression on his new home fans. Ross led all scorers with 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting and 4-for-7 from three-point distance. He’s got a  cheap contract and is a fantastic scorer. The Magic did well to get him and a first-round pick in the deal that sent Serge Ibaka to Toronto.

Aaron Gordon added in 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Moving Ibaka means that Gordon can go back to playing power forward, the position he is obviously most suited for. That can only be a good thing for his development.

Nikola Vucevic and Elfrid Payton added 16 points and 15 points respectively. The only starter that failed to score in double figures was Evan Fournier. Never Google his name. It does not end well for the viewer.

The third quarter is where the game fell apart for the Hawks. The Magic outscored them by 12 points in that third quarter to take 15-point lead. They were not able to claw back from that deficit, leading to a 19-point loss.

In Chris Vivlamore’s recap in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mike Budenholzer talked about Schroder’s punishment.

"“We continue to hold our entire roster, all of our players, accountable,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Our culture is important to us. Respect for your teammates is important to us. That’s our job and that’s our organization’s job is to continue to build on our culture.”"

Millsap also spoke about Schroder and his absence early in the game. It’s clear that the team wants to put this behind them. They need Schroder playing and productive to win games. That much is obvious after back-to-back blowout losses.

"“It hurt us last night not to have him,” Paul Millsap said. “It hurt us tonight not to start with him. Those decisions are left up to the organization. We have to accept what it is. Dennis is sorry. I think he wants to be on the court. It’s something we have to get over. These two games we have to put behind us.”"

Is it time to panic? This stat from Vivlamore is a rather eye-opening.

The Hawks committed to the present by keeping this core together at the Trade Deadline. They want to win and they want to win this season. Right now, they don’t look like a team that can compete for anything significant in the Eastern Conference.

They have shown the ability to beat good teams in the past, but this slump is at least concerning. They need to start taking care of business against teams that are worse than them.

They have been a mediocre team for their last 20 games. Mediocre isn’t what they want to be or what they expect to be. They have 24 games before the playoffs begin, so there is still time to figure things out.

Next: Grading The Ersan Ilyasova Trade

The loss brings them to 32-26 on the season. If the losses continue to pile up, they run the risk of falling out of the race for a top four seed. It’s not time to panic just yet, but they need to turn things around quickly.