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.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Game night review: Magic (10-3) 83, Celtics (9-4) 78

In a defensive struggle, the Magic were able to overcome 41% FG shooting, 58% FT shooting, and 21 turnovers to outlast Boston, as the Magic were able to withstand a big Celtics' comeback after the Magic led by 16 after one quarter.

The Celtics had their last lead of the game at 6-5 before the Magic went on a tear the rest of the first quarter, shooting 65% and holding the Celtics to 21% shooting as the Magic led 29-13 after one. The Celtics erased most of their deficit in the second quarter, coming as close as 41-40 before the Magic went into the half with a 43-40 lead. The Magic were able to extend their lead in the third quarter back up to 10 points before ending the third with a 66-59 lead. The Celtics eventually tied the game at 78 with under 3 minutes remaining in the game before the Magic held the Celtics scoreless the rest of the way with stifling defense and pulled out an important road win 83-78.

Magic leading scorers

Vince Carter: 26 points (10 of 29 FGs), 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 turnovers
Rashard Lewis: 16 points (5 of 11 FGs), 10 rebounds
Mickael Pietrus: 14 points (5 of 6 FGs)
Dwight Howard: 9 points (2 of 4 FGs), 15 rebounds, 3 blocks

Overall Game Statistics

FG%: ORL 41.4% (29 of 70) BOS 34.5% (30 of 87)
3 PT FG%: ORL 45.5% (10 of 22) BOS 10.5% (2 of 19)
FT%: BOS 88.9% (16 of 18) ORL 57.7% (15 of 26)
REB: BOS 43 (14 offensive) ORL 42 (7 offensive)
AST/TO: BOS 20/12 ORL 19/21
BENCH: BOS 18 ORL 11

Other game notes and stats:

-The "Big Three" (Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett) of the Celtics combined for 49 points on 17 of 42 shooting, with Pierce scoring 21 points
-Rasheed Wallace off the Celtics' bench had 13 rebounds to lead them; Garnett added 11 rebounds for a double/double
-Wallace, Eddie House, and Rajon Rondo combined to shoot 8 of 34 from the field, including 1 of 12 from three point range
-Allen and Rondo each had 6 assists to lead the Celtics
-The Celtics outscored the Magic 72-53 on two pointers and free throws, but the Magic outscored the Celtics 30-6 on three pointers
-Ryan Anderson led the Magic bench with 5 points
-Jason Williams had 6 assists, along with 4 steals
-The Magic made 7 of their first 8 shots, and 9 of their first 12 shots
-The Celtics shot just 5 of 24 in the first quarter
-The Celtics missed their last 5 shots after tying the game at 78
-Brandon Bass was the only active Magic player not to play
-The Magic remain a game behind Atlanta (11-2) in the SE

Here is the complete box score and recap from nba.com

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:30 AM  

3 Comments:

  • At 5:10 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I think we all knew that Boston would make a run after the Magic went ahead by 16 pts after one. The Magic had the necessary resolve to withstand the Celtics' run and come away with the victory.

    I was very impressed with the Magic defense, especially in the final three minutes when the Celtics were shut out.

    Watching Vince Carter kind of reminded me of what it was like to watch Hedo Turkoglu at times, with several ill-advised shots and several silly turnovers, but making the clutch shots in the crucial minutes of the fourth quarter, like Turk used to do a lot and like VC did against the Celtics.

    I'm liking the job that Pietrus is doing as starter at SF so far; he's scoring in double digits and playing good defense.

    I think it was good that Stan Van Gundy and Dwight Howard had that meeting to clear the air on some things, and as a result, SVG said that he won't be so negative with the team, that he'll try to dwell more on the positive.

    Great road win in a very tough building to play in.

     

  • At 9:20 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    Mike:

    I agree with all your comments. Here are my takes of the game:

    - Although sloppy at times, Magic's defense was very good overall, and that is a good change.
    - Vince made some silly mistakes which he has to clean up remebering that he is now playing with a winning team, and those mistakes matter in a close game.
    - MP made some silly mistakes too, but if we are going to play Rashard at PF, he seems to be established at SF. He needs to practice on his footwork, especially when the path to the basket is open for him.
    - I still believe that playing Rashrd at SF makes more sense especially now that we are shoort on guards; AJ looked awful. J.J. was not used much (I wonder why?).
    - The experience of Finals showed up in a close game since Magic did not panick after BOS tied the game up.

    Good win on the road. Let's build on it.

     

  • At 10:34 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    (1)I was prepared to come on here and get on VC for all the careless turnovers and missed lay-ups,it seemed as if when he controled the ball he could do whatever he wanted against their defense. But the behind the back dribble's were all getting stripped and leading to turnovers out high,those lead to buckets for the celtics. But like you guys point out VC hit some huge shots that cannot be over-looked. So kudos to VC for not letting the turns get to his head. Everybody had a hand in the turnover category actually so it wasnt just VC,clean up the turns and make the freggin free throws and this game wouldnt have been close. At the same time i predicted a close game and it was,knowing defense and rebounding would be the difference. Dwight's 15 boards is exactly the type of effort we needed and having rashard back makes us so much better defensively.

     

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