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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
ATLANTA (AP) -- Lorenzen Wright was surprised Tracy McGrady took
so long to try and beat the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night.
|  | | Tracy McGrady scored a game-high 30 points but missed a 16-footer at the buzzer as his Magic fell by a point to the Hawks. |
"I didn't care what he did," Wright said. "I was just happy
he missed and that the game was over."
Wright scored 22 points and Dikembe Mutombo pulled down 24
rebounds as the Hawks ended a five-game losing streak to the
Orlando Magic with an 83-82 victory.
McGrady, who had a game-high 30 points, missed a 16-footer that
would have won it at the buzzer.
"It was do or die," McGrady said. "Unfortunately, the shot
didn't go down for us."
Down the stretch in overtime in a 95-92 loss at New York on
Thursday night, McGrady missed three shots and committed an
offensive foul on four of the Magic's final five possessions.
"I'll be in that situation again," he said. "There's no
reason to worry about this one."
Orlando lost its third straight and fell for the fifth time in
seven games. Atlanta had lost three of its last four outings.
Darrell Armstrong was 1-for-11 on the night before hitting a
3-pointer to bring the Magic within 80-77 with 1:37 to go.
Armstrong then stole the ball on Atlanta's ensuing possession and
hit a layup that cut the Hawks' lead to one.
Matt Maloney answered with a 3-pointer that put Atlanta up by
four with two seconds left on the shot clock.
"On that play, Jason did a great job drawing the defense, and
it was a terrific pass from him," Maloney said. "I was standing
there and then at the last second, Darrell left me and Jason found
me."
The scoring ended on Matt Miller's 3-pointer with 36.1 seconds
remaining. The Magic called a 20-second timeout after Dion Glover
missed a 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds to go, setting up a play for
McGrady to win it.
Glover was guarding McGrady on the final shot.
"He's a great player," Glover said. "That's a shot he felt
comfortable taking, shooting over a smaller player like myself. He
tried that, but I tipped (his hand) and I got away with one."
Orlando's last lead, 71-70, came when Michael Doleac hit a
turnaround five-footer with 8:40 to go. Jason Terry responded with
consecutive baskets that put the Hawks up to stay.
The Magic twice led by as many as 12 points late in the first
quarter, but the Hawks came back to take a 43-40 lead on Mutombo's
dunk with 1:03 left before halftime.
"A terrible game, really," Orlando coach Doc Rivers said. "I
thought we executed as poorly as we can. That's something we've got
to work on, because that's unacceptable. It's one thing to miss
shots, and that's fine because that happens. But it's another thing
to make mistakes."
Game notes
Atlanta raised its record to 2-20 when trailing after three
quarters. ... McGrady missed the first two meetings with the Hawks.
He was out Nov. 4 after being suspended one game for fighting with
Philadelphia's Eric Snow and Nov. 25 during a two-game absence with
an infected left hand.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Orlando Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
RECAPS
Dallas 103
Washington 85
Atlanta 83
Orlando 82
Philadelphia 107
Cleveland 103
Miami 112
Boston 86
New Jersey 97
Golden State 92
Utah 99
Houston 97
San Antonio 108
Detroit 101
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Tracy McGrady Official Site
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