Things ended with a little extra sauce following the Hawks’ 124-112 win over the Magic on Monday night. But the fracas after the final buzzer didn’t dim the lights as the Hawks secured their 10th straight win.
Quick stats: Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored a career-high 41 points on 9-of-14 shooting from 3. He also had seven rebounds and five assists.
Jalen Johnson had his 13th triple-double of the season. He had 24 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists, while Dyson Daniels had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Onyeka Okongwu also had 15 points and seven rebounds.
Key moment
Alexander-Walker carried over his strong play from the Hawks’ last outing on Saturday to Monday night. He hit the Hawks’ opening shot of the night and never really looked back.
But Alexander-Walker’s hot shooting ended up forcing the Magic to retire the top of their rotation.
The Magic tried making a push and cut the Hawks’ lead to 14. But the Hawks called a timeout, and out of it, Alexander-Walker hit a 3.
Then he made his career-best ninth 3 roughly 20 seconds later.
Highlight play
Johnson has had plenty of high-flying dunks this season, and he added another to the highlight reel. After CJ McCollum tracked down his own rebound off a 3-point attempt, he quickly found Johnson at the top of the key running into the paint.
Johnson then took off from the dotted circle and flew through the air past two Magic defenders and finished with a one-handed dunk.
Not to be outdone, Okongwu caught the body of Magic forward Paolo Banchero on a putback in the second half. Johnson had battled with Banchero on a drive to the basket for a layup.
The shot fell short, but Okongwu crashed the glass and went up for the dunk with Banchero under the basket.
What they said
“I do think just kind of like maybe a little rivalry going up there, and last game they had that incident with Bane and throwing a ball at O (Okongwu), and we knew that we’re close in the standings as well. So, these games are important for us, and so we wanted to come out and battle. And, yeah, glad we could get the win.” -- Daniels on the chippiness between the Hawks and Magic.
“It was cool, he wasn’t really talking about nothing. So, nah, that’s cool, man. We got each other’s backs in any situation. That’s why I love these guys. I love this group. How connected we are. What you saw tonight was just having each other’s backs. And that’s what we want to continue to do.” -- Johnson on the chippiness at the end of the game.
Up next
The Hawks hit the road for a two-game Texas swing. They make their first stop in Dallas against the Mavericks on Wednesday before heading to Houston to face the Rockets on Friday.
Standings watch
Following their win on Monday, the Hawks returned to eighth place in the Eastern Conference. They’re now tied with the 76ers in head-to-head records, but they own the tiebreak since they won the season series.
The Hawks’ win allowed the Raptors to tie records with the Magic and pulled the Hawks within 1½ games of a spot in the top six.
The Raptors returned to the top six after their win over the Pistons on Sunday. The Heat dropped to seventh place after losing to the Magic on Saturday. The Hawks and 76ers trail the Heat by one game for seventh.
The Hornets sit three games behind the Hawks and 76ers.
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