Magic rally from 20 down in the first quarter to beat Hawks in overtime
Nikola Vučević had 28 points (12 in the third quarter) and 13 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic rallied from 20 points down in the first quarter to beat the Atlanta Hawks 117-110 in overtime.
The Magic trailed 28-8 with 3:50 left in the first quarter and 54-41 at halftime. They were still down 71-53 with 7:46 left in the third quarter, with a 4.3% chance to win, and outscored the Hawks 64-39 the rest of the way.
Evan Fournier’s 3-pointer with 31.8 seconds left in overtime made it 115-110 and put it away.
During clutch time, the Magic outscored the Hawks 25-10. Mario Hezonja scored 10 of the Magic’s 25 on 4 for 7 shooting. Late in the fourth quarter, Elfrid Payton had 2 of his 3 steals, one of them leading to his free throws that put the Magic ahead 97-96, and the Magic scored 3 points off them.
Payton had 20 points, 7 assists and 3 steals.
For the Hawks, Al Horford scored 27 points (16 in the paint) on 12 for 18 shooting, and Paul Millsap added 22 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Jeff Teague scored 21 points. Kyle Korver scored 16 points on 6 for 8 shooting. The Hawks had 3 20-point scorers.
The Magic went 16 for 22 at the line to the Hawks’ 12 for 20. The Hawks forced 13 turnovers, about 5 fewer than usual for this many possessions. The Hawks’ starters outscored the Magic 56-44 in 22 minutes together. Millsap fouled out.