By Paul Levine Nov 27, 2009, 7:08 GMT
Los Angeles - Unhappy with his offence the last several games, Dwight Howard asked for more touches and it paid off.
Howard had 22 points with 17 rebounds, and the visiting Orlando Magic grounded the Atlanta Hawks in the second half for a 93-76 road win on Thursday night, in a showdown of Eastern Conference powerhouses.
'The last couple of games I haven't been aggressive enough,' said Howard, who snapped a five-game streak of being held under 20 points. 'Tonight I just kept asking for the ball, we played inside out and it was successful for us.'
Vince Carter netted 21 and seldom-used guard Anthony Johnson, averaging 1.6 points, had 15 of his 17 after intermission as Orlando (12-4) moved one-half game ahead of Atlanta for Southeast Division supremacy following its sixth win in seven games.
Howard gave credit to Johnson for giving the Magic a much-needed lift, especially in the second half.
'Anthony Johnson hasn't played that much until tonight,' he said. 'Tonight he almost played the entire second half, and he played well.'
Joe Johnson tallied 22 points, Josh Smith finished with 13 and 13 rebounds for Atlanta (11-4) losers of two in a row following a seven- game winning streak.
'We were playing against one of the top teams in the East,' Johnson said. 'We showed no signs of urgency in the second half.'
Bidding to tie the Phoenix Suns for a share of the NBA's best record, the Hawks soared out to a 51-39 halftime lead by closing on a 16-3 run. They went cold, however, hitting 11-of-43 field goals while getting outscored 54-25 in the final 24 minutes.
'It was like we forgot how we got the lead,' Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. 'We played so differently in the second half, so we have to go break this tape down and figure out why that is.'
One big reason was Howard.
Playing in front of his hometown Atlanta crowd, the muscular 6- foot-11 All-Star centre nicknamed 'Superman,' asserted himself around the basket with 10 points, and the Magic outscored its hosts 28-14 to carry a two-point advantage into the final frame.
'I wasn't happy with the way I played in the first half,' said Howard, who had 13 points, 10 boards and three blocks in the final two quarters. 'But I came out in the second half, tried to dominate the paint and trusted my teammates.'
The Magic opened a 79-69 cushion on a three-pointer by Johnson with 6:58 left. His layup made it 85-73 before Howard's dunk at the 2:25 mark pushed it to 87-73, as the sold out crowd of 19,193 witnessed the Hawks suffer their first home loss of the season following seven wins.
'Dwight came out in the second and made and impression on the game,' Carter said. 'When he's in attack mode, we're a different team.'
In the only other game played: Utah Jazz 105, Chicago Bulls 86 Carlos Boozer hit 12-of-14 shots en route to 28 points, Deron Williams added 21 on 9-of-11 shooting and the Jazz sent the struggling Bulls to their fourth straight loss.
Ronnie Brewer had 15 points, Turkish-native Mehmet Okur added 14 for Utah (8-7) which shot a sizzling 61 per cent from the field en route to its fourth win in the last five games.
Luol Deng scored 26 points, and Derrick Rose had 19 for Chicago (6-8) which trailed 57-40 at halftime.
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