Atlanta Hawks vs. Orlando Magics

The Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic played perhaps the best game of the regular season so far. Atlanta, who took this game with a 86-84 win over Orlando, fought right down to the finish. The Hawks were down as many as 15pts only to fight back and ultimately take over the game. Anytime these 2 teams get together there will be massive dunks, break aways and attitudes flaring.

The focus of this game tonight was not about how it started ,but by how it finished. One of the most exciting finishes in NBA history came with a dunk at the end. Hawks Josh Smith who is known for his explosive nature took to the rim, off a Joe Johnson miss, with just 7secs left in the game. Smith came from the wing out of nowhere and dunked the ball as time was expiring. He did a similar dunk back in November against the Houston Rockets but there was still time left on the clock.

“I knew it was close,” Smith said. “I just crashed it. I looked and the ball was there. Joe’s a good shooter, and I knew it wouldn’t be much off.” “I knew [Johnson] was going to shoot the basketball,” Smith said. “He’s made some big shots for us. I was hoping he would make this one. But I had his back.” Indeed, he did have Joe’s and the team’s back. Moving to 46-25, the Hawks are tied with The Boston Celtics and both of them clinched their playoff berths tonight with their wins.

This was the Hawks 5th straight game decided by a game winning shot in the expiring seconds. Hawks are the #4 seed in the east behind Cleveland, Magics, and Boston. The Magics fell to 50-22 and are still a few games in back of Cleveland.