Howard and Magic pound Atlanta

Carlos Arroyo led six double-digit scorers with 15 points while Hedo Turkoglu added 14 points for the Magic, who have won three in a row and seven of their last eight contests. Keith Bogans and Keyon Dooling netted 13 apiece in the contest.

"Based on all our other games with this team, this is kind of the last type of game we expected, but it is nice to have one," said Orlando coach Brian Hill. "I thought we really got some good contributions from everybody and all of our guys, starting with Keith Bogans. (He) did a really good job on Joe Johnson and limiting him. He came out with really good defensive energy early in the game and I thought that really set the tone. It got us out on the break, we got a lot of easy baskets, and we were just able to open the game up right from the beginning."

Shelden Williams chipped in 16 points and eight rebounds and Joe Johnson donated 16 for the Hawks, who have lost five of their last six games. Tyronn Lue and Salim Stoudamire each score 14 points.

"We just didn’t come in ready to play tonight," said Johnson. "We got off to a terrible start. We just didn’t have any experience to come back. We fought hard and had a better second half. It wasn’t good enough. They came out and protected their home floor. You have to give them credit for that."

Orlando jumped out to a quick 14-3 lead, as the Hawks opened the game 1-of-11 from the floor, 1-of-4 from the line and committed three turnovers in the first 6 1/2 minutes of the contest.

Despite turning the ball over seven times, Atlanta netted seven of the final 11 points to pull within 31-18 after the opening 12 minutes of play.

After the Hawks scored the first six points of the second quarter, narrowing the gap to 31-24, the Magic closed the quarter on a 26-5 run, highlighted by Arroyo’s three-point play, for a 57-29 advantage.

Atlanta added fuel to the spurt by going almost 10 minutes without a field goal, missing 14 shots in a row until Williams’ jumper with 35.4 seconds to play in the half.

The Hawks began the third quarter with a 12-2 rally, capped by Lue’s three- point play, cutting the deficit to 59-41. Orlando didn’t convert its first field goal until the 6:53 mark of the period.

The Magic were outscored 28-22 in the third quarter but still held a 79-57 margin heading into the final frame.

Atlanta tallied the first six points of the fourth to pull within 16, 79-63, but that was as close as it would get.

The biggest applause of the night came with just about 3 1/2 minutes to play when Orlando’s first round draft pick J.J. Redick made his NBA debut. He hit 1-of-2 from the floor for two points.

Game Notes

Orlando’s Grant Hill was not with the team due to the death of his grandmother...Atlanta’s Speedy Claxton sat out with a knee injury...The Magic have won five straight meetings at home...The Hawks’ Solomon Jones was called for a flagrant foul with 1:34 remaining when he threw Bo Outlaw to the floor as he surged to the basket...The Magic have won six in a row at home...Orlando’s bench netted 49 points...Orlando shot 46 percent from the floor while the Hawks connected on 36 percent of their shots, including 4- of-20 in the second quarter.