Orlando Magic Blog

Group Blog talking about the NBA 2009 Eastern Conference Champions. Due to the amazing success of the 2009 playoff run comments are now frequently deleted to kill offensive comments, incoherence, or asininity. Comments can no longer be anonymous and require either a Blogger or OpenID account.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Celtics pull away in 2 OT win over Magic

In a close, hard-fought game, the Magic (33-39, 12-25 road) were able to overcome a 10 point halftime deficit, but could not hold onto leads late in regulation and OT as BOS (22-49, 11-25 home) scored 15 of the last 19 pts in the second OT and won 105-96. The Magic were able to make only 6 of 18 FGs in the two OTs.

Four players scored in double figures for the Magic, led by HTurkoglu and GHill, each with 20 pts. However, Turkoglu scored just 2 pts in the 4th quarter and the OT periods. TBattie added 13 pts, 11 rebs; DHoward 12 pts, 14 rebs, 6 blocks. However, Howard had 6 TOs and was just 4 of 12 from the FT line. JNelson struggled mightily, scoring just 9 pts on 4 of 16 FGs. He also missed what would have been the game-winning basket late at the end of regulation and the OT. TAriza led the reserves with 7 pts in just 15 minutes. KDooling and CArroyo added 6 pts each. BOS was led by Paul Pierce with 32 pts, including the game-tying 3 pointer in the first OT. Al Jefferson added 23 pts, 13 rebs.

BOS (40 of 92, 43.5%) outscored the Magic (35 of 84, 41.7%) from the field 82-73. Both teams struggled from 3 pt range, with the Magic going 3 of 11, and BOS 2 of 12. BOS (23 of 28) had a much better FT percentage than the Magic (23 of 37). BOS had the slight edge at rebounding 46-45. Magic hurt themselves with 20 TOs, BOS had just 14. BOS also had the better AST/TO ratio of 19/14, compared to 19/20 for the Magic. The Magic bench outscored the BOS bench 22-16.

The Magic now fall to the 8th seed in the East, 1/2 game behind NJ, who beat IND. Magic are 1 1/2 games ahead of IND and NY, who surprised CLE. Magic have only a day of rest, then host IND FRI night in another key game.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 11:15 PM  

5 Comments:

  • At 11:46 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Truthfully, the Magic did not deserve to win this game. BOS had the better FG pct, a much better FT pct, one more rebound, and 6 fewer TOs. This time, it was the Celtics who made the clutch shots and did what they had to do to win the game.

    I didn't hear what happened with Darko, why he only played 2 minutes.

    I wasn't too happy with BHill's use of the bench against BOS, especially with Darko apparently unavailable. Ariza played only 15 minutes, J.J. only 9 minutes. I don't think it's the wisest thing in the world to play GHill 48 minutes in a game, or Battie 39 minutes.

    It appears that if our "shoot-first" PG in Nelson isn't making his shots, the Magic are going to have trouble winning. Only 4 asts for Jameer in 42 minutes. What a struggle on offense against BOS... the Magic can't even reach 100 pts in two OTs.

    However, if the Magic can make their FTs (Dwight, Hedo, and Battie made a combined just 8 of 21 from the line), and limit their TOs, they win the game tonight, even though they deserved the loss.

    Credit to BOS and Doc Rivers for having his team motivated and playing hard, although the only thing they are playing for is pride.

    The effort was there for the Magic, but certainly not the results.

     

  • At 1:04 AM, Blogger Ken said…

    Just a bunch of random thoughts:

    Pretty much what I expected out of a BSH led team tonight. Leave it to him to have the team ill-prepared, and a poor game plan against the club with the worst record in the east. I believe Darko was knee'd in the thigh by Paul Pierce in the 1st period, that being the reason for only 2 minutes of playing time. It's really hard to get excited about games against teams with sub .500 records when you know these are the teams that usually beat the Magic. Dwight's free-throws and critical turnovers are really hurting the Magic. He looks great in the first half of most games, but struggles late. Jameer's lack of assists use to be sort of funny to joke about, now it's just pathetic. BSH"s lack of coaching ability and poor substitutions use to be good for a laugh, now that little shit twerp just pisses me off whenever I see him. Whatever...

     

  • At 3:25 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Awesome coaching! Awesome officiating! Awesome game!

    ...Just kidding...

    This game was pretty much the exact opposite of that. The player rotation tonight has never looked worse. For about 8 straight minutes, about 7 for the 4th quarter, we had Arroyo, Dooling, Ariza, Hill, and Dwight on the floor together. I think Brian Hill likes to see how many guys he can play out of position at once. The plan was to give the ball down low to Dwight. Tell me, who out there with Dwight had the ability to hit a shot beyond 18 feet? NOBODY!!! In turn, the floor was a traffic jam for us on the offensive end, and we struggled like always. Brian Hill is a total moron, not just for this reason, many reasons. He has to go. I'm seriouslly hurting as a fan. I honestly wonder how much more of this I can take. I want the season to end. I don't want to watch this crap any longer. My interest in the Magic is at a all time low.

     

  • At 11:16 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    Magic will probably make to the play-offs at the 7th spot since NJ and IND and NY are so pathetic that they will match with us loss for loss. What would that say about us? In line with what OVERWADED pointed out, there is no fun for me in seeing Magic struggle to beat the worst of the worsts in the league, and sometimes even fail to do so.

     

  • At 12:09 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Exactly. Blame it on a road game, injuries, or that the opposing team just played a so call great game. We've heard all the excuses by now... The fact of the matter is when you lose to the worst teams in the entire league, and night after night make those teams look good, you have to start considering that you're one of the worst teams in the league.

    The Magic play another crappy team tonight in a "big game". It's hard for me to even listen or read any of the stuff on the team right now. I'm sick of them talking about "must wins" and crap. I start thinking, are we talking about the same team? Because this team isn't going anywhere. Tonight, we should expect another close game. The Pacers will probably have some scrub player look like an all-star against us. Still, as Matt said, we're the best of these horrible teams at the bottom of the East, so we might win tonight. I also expect us to make the playoffs, not that it matters.

     

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