ORLANDO, Fla. — J.J. Redick scored 17 points in place of an injured Vince Carter, and the Orlando Magic ended a four-game losing streak with a 113-81 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night.
Matt Barnes finished with 18 points, and reserve Jason Williams added 14 to help the Magic build a 38-point lead and stay atop the Southeast Division. Orlando is 11/2 games ahead of Atlanta (23-13) and has won the two regular-season meetings against its division rival.
Al Horford had 14 points and Josh Smith scored 11 for the Hawks, who committed 16 turnovers and never could rally after falling behind early. Especially not with Orlando shooting 64 percent from the floor in the opening half.
Atlanta couldn't have expected such a Magic turnaround.
Orlando (25-12) had lost four straight games — all to teams that had losing records — for the first time since February 2007. And Carter said before the game he had a "mild separation" in his left shoulder but could be back as soon as next week, saying it was mostly soreness and didn't require surgery.
At least now the Magic can head out on a tough four-game road trip with stops at the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver, Portland and Sacramento with some momentum.
A lot of it.
Filling in for the injured Carter, Redick highlighted a 26-6 run with some highlights worthy of his days as a star at Duke. He had a pair of hard-driving layups, a 3-pointer and a jumper rolling off a tight screen to help give the Magic a 44-24 lead late in the second quarter.
It would get worse for Atlanta. Much worse.
All the Magic's flashy plays that had been missing came in one, big bunch.
Dwight Howard swatted Joe Johnson's shot into the first row, then twice connected on an alley-oop from Jameer Nelson. Ryan Anderson had a pair of powerful drop-steps in the post for layups. Barnes had a three-point play and a shot-clock beating jumper; and one of backup center Marcin Gortat's four blocks hit a videographer sitting on the baseline.
The Hawks didn't help themselves.
They had 10 turnovers in the first half. They showed little poise — constantly arguing with officials — and had even fewer second-chance shots, a big reason why they trotted slowly to the locker room down a whopping 66-37.
Atlanta eventually went down by 38 points but was able to trim the deficit to 19 on a layup by Zaza Pachulia early in the fourth quarter with most of Orlando's starters on the bench. But the Magic followed with another crowd-pleasing play.
Redick went into the stands to save the ball, throwing it over his head without looking. Anderson got it and swished a 3-pointer to deliver another big blow to the Hawks.
NOTES: The Magic aren't the only team that had lost four straight. Atlanta lost four in a row from Dec. 29 to Jan. 4. ... Howard was shooting the second of two free throws with 6:59 left in the first quarter when a squeaky noise accidentally went off over the loud speakers. The noise lasted only a few seconds. Howard didn't stop his motion and made the free throw.