The Atlanta Hawks can forget about challenging Orlando Magic center Shaquille O’Neal to a game of one-on-one.
They tried that idea Wednesday night and O’Neal scored a career playoff-high 41 points while leading the Magic to a 117-105 victory at the O-rena.
Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway added 32 points as the Magic took a 1-0 lead in this best-of-seven playoff series. Game 2 is Friday night.
This was the first Orlando had played since completing a three-game sweep of the Detroit Pistons on April 30. The Hawks, meanwhile, were coming off a series-clinching victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 on Sunday.
“I can’t begin to tell you how scared I was coming into this game, not having played in eight days,” Magic coach Brian Hill said. “That’s a coach’s nightmare to be off that long.
“We were a little rusty. It was just nice to get back in some type of rhythm again and knowing that we’re going to be playing again in 48 hours instead of eight days.”
Atlanta was burned by Dennis Scott the last time these two teams met as the Magic forward hit an NBA-record 11 three-pointers. Apparently that left a lasting impression. Scott was held to only five points this time, but the other Magic starters more than made up for it.
Horace Grant had his fourth double-double in as many playoff games with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Nick Anderson added 21 points as the Magic shot 58 percent from the field.
“Well there’s no way they can stop everything,” Scott said. “They either have to double-team Shaq and give up the threes to me, Nick and Penny, or try to go one-on-on with Shaq and have him score on a bunch of dunks and jump hooks.”
The Hawks opted for the latter, which meant O’Neal could have his way with Hawks centers Christian Laettner and Sean Rooks in the low post. The results were predictable. O’Neal hit 18 of 28 field goals and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to put his personal stamp on this game.
