Magic rout Hawks, down 3-2 in series
Jason Richardson scored 17 points and J.J. Redick 14 to help the host Orlando Magic stay alive in the playoffs with a 101-76 victory over the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday night.
The win kept alive the Magic's hopes of becoming the ninth team in NBA history to win a playoff series after trailing 3-1. If they can win Game 6 Thursday in Atlanta, they would host Game 7 on Saturday.
Magic center Dwight Howard battled foul trouble throughout the night and had just one field goal, finishing with eight points and eight rebounds. Orlando didn't need his offense, though, as it broke out of a shooting slump with 11 three-pointers.
Josh Smith scored 22 points to lead Atlanta, which shot below 40 percent for just the second time this series.
"We're a good shooting team," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "This isn't an aberration. We've been doing this for four years. The first four games were the aberration."
The Magic cruised in the second half, allowing Howard to log his first extended rest of the series as their lead crept above 30 points early in the fourth quarter.
Orlando put together easily its best half of the series in building a 58-35 halftime lead.
Bulls 116, Pacers 89: Derrick Rose scored 25 points, Luol Deng 24 and host Chicago eliminated Indiana in Game 5. Rose seemed just fine after spraining his left ankle in Game 4, hitting 8 of 17 shots. He dominated in the early going and came up big in the third after the Pacers pulled within four. He scored 10 points in the final six minutes, and Chicago ended the quarter on a 23-8 run to blow the game open. The Bulls hit 14 of 31 three-pointers, including five by Keith Bogans (15 points).
Artest gets award
Lakers star Ron Artest has been selected for the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, honoring him for his attempts to promote mental health awareness. His efforts include fundraising, appearing before Congress to support the Mental Health in Schools Act, and he raffled off his 2010 NBA championship ring, raising more than $650,000. -- AP
