Energy from start to finish in win

The Hawks played one of their most energetic games Saturday night, when Ersan Ilyasova scored a season-high 26 points and Kent Bazemore added 19 and a couple of huge defensive plays/dunks in the final minute in Philips Arena, triggering a 117-110 win over the Magic. Three observations from the victory:

I’ll say, Ilyasova?

The Hawks (6-19) started quickly, as one might expect of a team that last played Wednesday, when Atlanta lost 110-106 in overtime in Orlando (11-19), especially since the visitors not only lost a night before at home but saw their travel plans delayed until Saturday morning because Atlanta’s airport was snowed under.

Nobody, though, predicted Ilyasova scoring 10 of the Hawks’ first 14 points on the way to a 9-of-9 shooting night from the field.

He didn’t seem surprised that Atlanta led 32-22 after a quarter, nor shocked to become the first Hawk to make all nine field goals tried in a game, including five 3-pointers. No NBA player had done that since Bobby Jackson of the Houston Rockets on Jan. 11, 2008.

Yet Ilyasova didn’t even have a special feeling. “Not really,” he said. “It was one of those nights, I guess ... the way we play, everybody came out with a lot of energy. Obviously, we have to give them a lot of credit coming off a back-to-back. We knew we had to go at them in the beginning of the game. We played really well.”

No answer for Vucevic

With Atlanta big men Mike Muscala (sprained left ankle), John Collins (sprained shoulder) and Dewayne Dedmon (shin) sidelined, the Hawks again started Miles Plumlee at center. And suffered. He scored three points (missing all three of his shots from the field) with three rebounds, and Orlando center Nikola Vucevic went berserk on him.

The 7-footer from Montenegro scored 12 of his 31 points in the second quarter, when the Magic took a brief one-point lead in the middle of the period and pulled within 55-54 inside the final minute. Vucevic finished with game highs of 31 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double.

Bazemore bonanza

The Magic had the ball with just over half a minute left, and then Bazemore took over.

Bazemore sagged into the passing lane, tipped a pass, scooped it up, and raced two-thirds of the court as if shot out of a cannon for a go-ahead dunk with 36 seconds left in the game.

“We made winning plays in the last 90 seconds of the game,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Kent Bazemore, his activity, his competitiveness ... obviously, the steal in the middle of the court.”

Not long afterward, Bazemore was fouled at the other end after rebounding an air ball by Shelvin Mack. He added two free throws with 21 seconds left.

After an Orlando time- out, it was Bazemore again. Tipped ball. Scoop, drive, dunk.

“The activity, the length and arms on the inbound- ers makes it difficult” for the Magic, Budenholzer said. “Tonight, to do it with our defense was huge. When you’re getting steals and laying it in the basket, getting free throws, it just makes everything so much easier those last 90 seconds ... it’s very satisfying.”