Like Magic, It’s Falling Into Place

All season, everyone has looked forward to Shaq vs. Michael in the Eastern Conference finals. The Orlando Magic is holding up its end.

Orlando, led by 24 points from Shaquille O’Neal, won its sixth consecutive playoff game Sunday, beating the Atlanta Hawks, 103-96, to take a 3-0 lead over the Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“I’m impressed,” Magic guard Nick Anderson said. “It shows maturity is settling in and we’re playing well together--the best we ever have.”

The Magic can wrap up the best-of-seven series tonight at the Omni and earn another trip to the conference finals, where, in all likelihood, the Bulls and Michael Jordan will be the opponent.

“I’d like to get this over with, rest up, and watch the Bulls get tired playing the Knicks,” O’Neal said.

O’Neal picked up his fifth foul with a little more than seven minutes left in the game and wound up playing only 16 minutes in the second half. But he was around to make two big plays in the final minutes.

After Atlanta cut the Magic lead to 97-96 on two free throws by Christian Laettner with 2:47 remaining, O’Neal caught a pass in the lane with Laettner on his back. Instead of trying to force up a shot and risk his sixth foul, O’Neal dished the ball outside to Dennis Scott, who made a three-pointer with 2:28 left.

“Dennis hit the key shot,” O’Neal said. “He does that a lot.”

Anfernee Hardaway, who scored 21 points, tipped in his own miss with 1:46 remaining to give the Magic a 102-96 lead, then O’Neal sealed the victory at the defensive end. Steve Smith drove through the lane but was stuffed by Shaq, with the ball deflecting out of bounds off Smith’s back.

“People that think Shaq is just a dunk machine are badly mistaken,” Anderson said. “There’s a lot more to his game--the boards in spite of foul trouble, his passing to open guys on the perimeter.” O’Neal led the Magic with 12 rebounds.

At the end, a large contingent of Orlando fans began chanting “Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!”

“It was almost like playing at the O-rena,” O’Neal said.

Laettner led Atlanta with 26 points and Mookie Blaylock scored 16 of his 20 in the third quarter to send the game to the final period tied 82-82.

“I’m not sure what happened,” Blaylock said. “We had a big third, the crowd was stomping and the momentum was ours. But a turnover here, a bad shot there, another turnover hurt us. Not to mention Orlando got the ball where they wanted--in the middle.”

The Magic have tried to erase the memory of a four-game sweep to Houston in the finals last year by taking out their wrath on the lesser teams of the Eastern Conference. Orlando defeated Detroit in three straight games in the first round, then beat the Hawks by an average of 19 points in the first two games of the series on its home court.

Game 3 was much closer, with the margin never climbing into double figures. The low score also was what Atlanta, a defensive-minded team, had in mind.

In the end, though, the result was the same for the Hawks, who simply don’t have the size or talent to match up with a team of Orlando’s caliber. When the Hawks doubled O’Neal, Scott got open to hit four three-pointers. When they focused on Scott and O’Neal, Grant made them pay by scoring 20 points.