Orlando Magic vs. Atlanta Hawks
Amway Center
February 10, 2012
Taking advantage of an east coast work trip I headed down to Orland for a 24-hour whirlwind tour. The first night was the game and the second day I got some amazing park tickets from my uncle Rich to Universal Studios Orlando. By obtaining a “golden ticket” I got to hit up every single ride in two parks in about 7 hours, unreal. Next time I have to come with Keli, she would have loved it.
The Magic play in a brand new arena that is very similar to the Staples Center in LA. The $500 million Amway Center was impeccable in every way, great acoustics, fun fan center, plenty of bars, and really clean. I got a seat by an older couple that have had season tickets for 13 years, so we had a lot of basketball to talk about. They were really excited about my sports fantasy adventure and made for a really good time. The game was a back and forth race that ended in overtime with an Atlanta win. Both teams struggled to make a shot while the Magic who regularly make about 20 3’s a game hit a very low shooting percentage. Dwight Howard struggled from the field and Hedo Turkoglu was off all night. Even sure shot JJ Reddick was off. The only player who really put his heart on the floor was Ryan Anderson. With tough rebounds, excellent blocking out, and intelligent shooting he was definitely the star of the game even in the loss. For the Hawks Josh Smith put in 23 points and had 19 rebounds while Joe Johnson scored 14 (4 in overtime) and added five assists. Down 78 to 70 with only 2 minutes left in the game the Magic scored six straight points, including back-to-back layups by Jameer Nelson, to cut it to 78-76. Following a missed jumper by Josh Smith on the other end, Orlando called a timeout with 12.2 seconds to play. Nelson drove to the basket and floated a layup attempt over Smith and Johnson that trickled of the rim, but Howard was there to dunk the rebound. The Hawks had 1.2 seconds to get off a shot, but Jeff Teague didn't release his jumper before the regulation buzzer. In OT the Hawks pushed just a little bit more coming away with the tough fought win. Final score 89-87.
My only issue is that because of the lockout I couldn’t get a hard ticket stub. May have to come back…who knows.
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