The Orlando Magic crushed the Atlanta Hawks 113-81 in a one-sided showdown of the Southeast Division's top two teams on Saturday. The Magic blew out the Hawks with a 37-point second quarter performance to end a four-game losing streak and stretch their division lead to one-and-a-half games. JJ Redick scored 17 points while starting for injured guard Vince Carter, sparking an 11-0 run in the second quarter that led to a 66-37 half-time lead.
"That's about as happy as I've been with a regular-season win in a long time," the Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We just needed to get a win so we can all get a good night sleep and get the monkey off our back." Meanwhile Detroit's Ben Gordon scored the 10 millionth point in NBA history during his side's 104-94 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Gordon made a jumper with 3:51 left in the second quarter, but his milestone was the only bright spot for the Pistons, who have now lost 12 games in a row.
"It's very discouraging that we had no sense of urgency - none - in the first half," the Detroit forward Charlie Villanueva said. In Dallas, Deron Williams had 20 points as the Utah Jazz beat the Mavericks 111-93. Carlos Boozer added 15 points for the Jazz, who never allowed their lead to fall below 13 points in the final 21 minutes. It was all a far cry from the teams' last meetings, when the Mavericks came back from 16 points down in the last eight minutes to win.
"As soon as the third quarter was over, we said, 'Remember what happened last time,' and we moved forward," Boozer said. "We brought it up so it didn't happen again. We played great the whole game, got out to a big lead, and we kept it this time." * With agencies