Game 7: Magic 101 Celtics 82
The Orlando Magic made history Sunday night by becoming the first team ever to defeat Boston in a playoff series when the Celtics had a 3 games to 2 lead; Boston had won 32 series without a defeat previously in that situation.
The Magic did it in stunningly easy fashion, led by Hedo Turkoglu who had a spectacular game with 25 points and 12 assists. Boston's only lead was at 2-0. The Magic led by as much as 22-9 in the first quarter and settled for a 27-17 lead after one. The Magic extended their lead to 37-23 in the second before Boston went on a 15-5 run to cut their deficit to 42-38. The Magic went into the half with a 45-38 lead.
Boston came as close as 47-44 early in the third before the Magic went back ahead by double digits 62-52. The Celtics cut the Magic lead to 66-61 at the end of three to set the stage for what looked to be a very tense and exciting fourth quarter. The Magic jumped on the Celtics right away, outscoring Boston 13-1 to start the fourth to lead 79-62. The Magic held a commanding 85-66 lead before Boston tried one last time to come back and cut the Magic lead to 90-78 with under 4 and a half minutes remaining. The Magic took any remaining suspense out of the game by scoring the next 11 points on their way to a history-making 101-82 win, and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1996 to take on number one seed Cleveland.
Magic leading scorers
Hedo Turkoglu: 25 points (9 of 12 field goals), 12 assists, 5 rebounds
Rashard Lewis: 19 points (5 of 14 field goals), 5 rebounds, 4 assists
Mickael Pietrus (bench): 17 points (6 of 7 field goals)
Rafer Alston: 15 points (6 of 16 field goals), 4 assists, 2 steals
Dwight Howard: 12 points (5 of 9 field goals), 16 rebounds, 5 blocks
Boston leading scorers
Ray Allen: 23 points (9 of 18 field goals)
Paul Pierce: 16 points (4 of 13 field goals)
Glen Davis: 13 points
Rajan Rondo: 10 points (4 of 10 field goals), 10 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals
Overall Game Statistics
FG%: ORL 51.4% (36 of 70) BOS 39.2% (29 of 74)
3 PT FG%: ORL 61.9% (13 of 21) BOS 25% (4 of 16)
FT%: BOS 80% (20 of 25) ORL 80% (16 of 20)
REB: BOS 37 (7 offensive) ORL 35 (3 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 26/16 BOS 21/13
BENCH: ORL 25 BOS 12
Other game notes and stats:
-The Magic starting frontline outscored the Celtics' starting frontline 56-37 and outrebounded them 26-21
-Turkoglu and Lewis combined for 44 points, 16 assists, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks
-Turkoglu and Pietrus combined to shoot 15 of 19 from the field, including 7 of 8 from three point range
-In the fourth quarter, the Magic shot 10 of 15 from the field, including 3 of 4 from the three point line, and shot 12 of 13 from the free throw line
-The Celtics, in the fourth quarter, shot just 7 of 18 from the field, including 2 of 8 from three point range
-The "Big Three" of Allen, Pierce, and Rondo combined to score 49 points on 17 of 41 shooting
-Other than Allen, the other four Boston starters combined to shoot just 15 of 41 from the field
-Other than Allen, the Celtics shot just 1 of 10 from long range
-The three main Celtics' bench players, House, Scalabrine, and Marbury scored a combined 8 points on 3 of 12 shooting
-J.J. Redick continued to start as SG for the Magic, and scored 5 points along with 4 assists in 24 minutes
-Marcin Gortat (5 points) and Courtney Lee (3 points) combined for 8 points off the Magic bench
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals begins Wednesday night in Cleveland.
For the complete box score from nba.com click here
The Magic did it in stunningly easy fashion, led by Hedo Turkoglu who had a spectacular game with 25 points and 12 assists. Boston's only lead was at 2-0. The Magic led by as much as 22-9 in the first quarter and settled for a 27-17 lead after one. The Magic extended their lead to 37-23 in the second before Boston went on a 15-5 run to cut their deficit to 42-38. The Magic went into the half with a 45-38 lead.
Boston came as close as 47-44 early in the third before the Magic went back ahead by double digits 62-52. The Celtics cut the Magic lead to 66-61 at the end of three to set the stage for what looked to be a very tense and exciting fourth quarter. The Magic jumped on the Celtics right away, outscoring Boston 13-1 to start the fourth to lead 79-62. The Magic held a commanding 85-66 lead before Boston tried one last time to come back and cut the Magic lead to 90-78 with under 4 and a half minutes remaining. The Magic took any remaining suspense out of the game by scoring the next 11 points on their way to a history-making 101-82 win, and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1996 to take on number one seed Cleveland.
Magic leading scorers
Hedo Turkoglu: 25 points (9 of 12 field goals), 12 assists, 5 rebounds
Rashard Lewis: 19 points (5 of 14 field goals), 5 rebounds, 4 assists
Mickael Pietrus (bench): 17 points (6 of 7 field goals)
Rafer Alston: 15 points (6 of 16 field goals), 4 assists, 2 steals
Dwight Howard: 12 points (5 of 9 field goals), 16 rebounds, 5 blocks
Boston leading scorers
Ray Allen: 23 points (9 of 18 field goals)
Paul Pierce: 16 points (4 of 13 field goals)
Glen Davis: 13 points
Rajan Rondo: 10 points (4 of 10 field goals), 10 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals
Overall Game Statistics
FG%: ORL 51.4% (36 of 70) BOS 39.2% (29 of 74)
3 PT FG%: ORL 61.9% (13 of 21) BOS 25% (4 of 16)
FT%: BOS 80% (20 of 25) ORL 80% (16 of 20)
REB: BOS 37 (7 offensive) ORL 35 (3 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 26/16 BOS 21/13
BENCH: ORL 25 BOS 12
Other game notes and stats:
-The Magic starting frontline outscored the Celtics' starting frontline 56-37 and outrebounded them 26-21
-Turkoglu and Lewis combined for 44 points, 16 assists, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks
-Turkoglu and Pietrus combined to shoot 15 of 19 from the field, including 7 of 8 from three point range
-In the fourth quarter, the Magic shot 10 of 15 from the field, including 3 of 4 from the three point line, and shot 12 of 13 from the free throw line
-The Celtics, in the fourth quarter, shot just 7 of 18 from the field, including 2 of 8 from three point range
-The "Big Three" of Allen, Pierce, and Rondo combined to score 49 points on 17 of 41 shooting
-Other than Allen, the other four Boston starters combined to shoot just 15 of 41 from the field
-Other than Allen, the Celtics shot just 1 of 10 from long range
-The three main Celtics' bench players, House, Scalabrine, and Marbury scored a combined 8 points on 3 of 12 shooting
-J.J. Redick continued to start as SG for the Magic, and scored 5 points along with 4 assists in 24 minutes
-Marcin Gortat (5 points) and Courtney Lee (3 points) combined for 8 points off the Magic bench
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals begins Wednesday night in Cleveland.
For the complete box score from nba.com click here
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:47 AM
4 Comments:
At 3:02 AM,
Matt said…
This went on as I predicted. I thought that MP and CL will be the x-factors, and they were. MP was very good on offense and defense; he basically contained Pierce. CL in his limited time made Edie House a non-factor.
Magic played a very smart game, and even when BOS made runs they never got rattled. Magic being a young team grew through this series, tremendously.
On to CLE now. I expect Magic to win the series in six.
Mike:
When you get a chance would you be so kind to write a match up comparison between Magic and CLE in terms of players and team stats?
At 3:20 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
I know I was on record before the series started as saying that it would be impossible for the Magic to win a Game 7 in Boston. Well, I am absolutely ecstatic that I was proven wrong, and that the Magic were able to make history!
Great job by all the players and coaching staff on the Magic!
Matt, great prediction saying that the Magic will beat Boston in Game 7.
It should be a great series with the Cavaliers and LeBron James coming up!
I'll try and do that sometime Monday night, Matt, what you asked... a statistical comparison between the Magic and Cavaliers in terms of players and team stats.
At 3:24 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Props to Big Figure, too, who said before the game that Alston and Turk would have to be aggressive to help the Magic win.
What a game Turk had... wow! Scoring, making threes, and passing the ball!
Alston had his moments too, as did everyone else who played, but Turk was the star of the game, with Pietrus the star off the bench.
At 12:07 PM,
Big Figure said…
WOW! I called on turk and rafer because i thought in the three losses they were way to pedestrian,to beat the celtics the way we should is to have all of our weapons being aggressive and they were. Rafer when he takes shots make a good percentage and him turning down shots was actually kiiling us. Hedo not making shots was killing us also and he came up with the best game of his life in my opinion. Credit also should go to SVG for making the adjustment of getting dwight the ball on the move,he had shot attempts in transition as well as off the pick and roll with JJ.
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