Game review: Magic (34-17) 96, Celtics (32-17) 89
The Magic, after playing miserable basketball in the second quarter and trailing by 11 at the half, turned the game around in stunning fashion in the third quarter as they outscored Boston 36-11 to lead by 76-62 entering the fourth quarter. The Magic never let the Celtics get any closer than 5 points late in the fourth quarter. All five Magic starters scored in double figures.
The Magic stayed close with the Celtics in the first quarter as they trailed by just 24-23 entering the second quarter. The Magic tied the game at 34 with 7:21 remaining in the second before they missed 10 of their final 11 shots of the half and the Celtics went on a 17-6 run to lead at half 51-40. Dwight Howard scored just 2 first half points as he sat out most of the first half with foul trouble. The Celtics led 57-46 with 9:03 remaining in the third before the Magic took the game over as the Magic outscored the Celtics 30-5 to end the quarter and had a comfortable 14 point lead heading into the fourth. The Magic's largest lead of the final quarter was 17 points, and the Magic still led 89-74 with 7:11 remaining before the Celtics made a comeback attempt outscoring the Magic 15-5 to pull within 5 points with 46 seconds remaining, but got no closer as the Magic clinched the season series against Boston 3-1.
Magic leading scorers
Vince Carter: 20 points (7 of 13 FGs, 3 of 4 3 PT FG)
Dwight Howard: 16 points (4 of 9 FGs, 8 of 12 FTs), 13 rebounds, 2 blocks
Jameer Nelson: 15 points (5 of 10 FGs. 4 of 4 FTs), 4 assists, 5 turnovers
Rashard Lewis: 14 points (5 of 13 FGs, 2 of 3 3 PT FGs), 2 steals
Matt Barnes: 11 points (4 of 6 FGs, 3 of 4 3 PT FGs), 5 rebounds
Overall Game Statistics
FG%: ORL 46.3% (31 of 67) BOS 42.2% (35 of 83)
3 PT FG%: ORL 50% (11 of 22) BOS 31.2% (5 of 16)
FT%: ORL 79.3% (23 of 29) BOS 73.7% (14 of 19)
REB: BOS 40 (12 offensive) ORL 38 (6 offensive)
AST/TO: BOS 24/12 ORL 17/15
BENCH: BOS 30 ORL 20
Other game notes and stats:
-Four players scored in double figures for the Celtics, led by Rajon Rondo with 17 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals
-The "Big Three" of the Celtics, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen, combined for 40 points on 14 of 38 shooting, including 2 of 11 on three pointers
-Rasheed Wallace, who has made a career of torching the Magic, scored just 2 points on 1 of 6 shooting
-From the 7:15 mark of the third quarter to the 11:12 mark of the fourth quarter, the Magic outscored Boston 28-2
-During that span, the Magic shot 9 of 12 from the field, including 5 of 6 on threes, and 5 of 5 on free throws; the Celtics shot 0 for 12 with 5 turnovers
-The Magic starting frontline outscored the Celtics' starting frontline 41-28 and outrebounded them 20-16
-Magic reserve center Marcin Gortat played all of his 16 minutes in the first half, scoring 2 points with 5 rebounds and 2 blocks
-Mickael Pietrus, on his 28th birthday, led the Magic bench in scoring with 8 points on 2 of 5 shooting, including 2 of 4 3 PT FG
-Barnes, Lewis, and Carter combined to shoot 8 of 11 on three pointers
-The Magic regain sole possession of the second seed in the East
Here is the complete recap and box score from nba.com.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:12 AM
8 Comments:
At 12:25 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Quote from Celtics' coach Doc Rivers, from the nba.com recap:
"One of the guys said, 'We're better than Orlando,'" Rivers said. "And I said, 'No, you're not.'
"Orlando is better than us right now. Atlanta's better than us. L.A.'s better than us. Those are the teams that have beaten us. That doesn't mean that we can't be better than them at some point, but right now, those teams are better."
"I don't want any excuses," Rivers said. "I didn't want to hear them when we were injured. I definitely don't want to hear them now."
From Magic coach Stan Van Gundy from the recap at Yahoo! Sports:
“In a matter of three days, I’ve seen the worst quarter we’ve had since I’ve been here in three years and the best now in three years,” Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said.
“Mirror image of what happened to us the other night at home—big lead at the half, get absolutely annihilated in the third quarter,” Van Gundy said. “People want to know how you can let that happen, now you’ve got someone else you can ask besides us.”
At 12:37 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Kudos to the Magic for bouncing back against Boston with a big win after the inexplicable loss against the Wizards Friday night.
Things certainly didn't look good at halftime because the Magic were shooting the ball poorly, committing too many turnovers, and playing bad defense; did they ever turn things around in that third quarter.
Rajon Rondo played like the All-Star he is in the first half with his scoring and assists, but the Magic did a lot better job on him in the second half as he only scored 6 points.
I really like how VC played for the Magic; 13 shot attempts in 34 minutes; most of his shots came within the flow of the offense and were not forced as evidenced by his over 50% shooting and 75% three point shooting; and he looked to pass the ball to teammates.
Great job by D12 staying in the game in the second half and being a force on offense and defense.
Nice job by Jameer in the second half, after he turned the ball over 4 times in the first half and was torched by Rondo.
Rashard came alive in the second half, and Barnes was a steady force throughout the game and had a fantastic +25 rating.
Good to see Mickael Pietrus effective again off the bench, as he hit a couple of big threes.
The Magic made a big statement in this game; they are more than capable of beating Boston in a 7 game series should they meet in the playoffs.
At 10:14 AM,
Big Figure said…
Yea you covered everything mike,well said! The role's of our players are finally set in stone now,everybody being healthy gives us the opportunity to gain chemistry as well. Seeing guys who do specific things being used the right way is fun to watch. Outside of caron butler,Matt barnes and his defensive presence has been routinely pestering SG's into bad shooting nights. Seeing JJ and his big shot making skills out there to finish games,VC playing like we all knew he could finishing games. The magic finally look like they've found themselves. SVG deserve's alot of credit,just wish he would double guys a little more when they get hot (butler) but all in all good win.
At 3:52 PM,
Matt said…
At the risk of being called the pessimist, I will say the following and then point the positive points:
1 - Consistency is the name of the game. The game was the tale of two teams in the first and second halves, or as I like to call it, Mr. Hyde in the first half and Dr. Jekyll in the second.
2 - What happened to the second best defensive guard being abused by Marquiz Daniels?
3 - We cannot look shaky trying to defend a lead. It was miserable watching a limpy Pierce and likes of House making 3-pointers.
Now for the positives:
1 - We have shown the kind of defense the team is capable of which could compensate for defensive liabilities at PG position (case in point - second half). we should be able to do it on consistent basis, and know that if we do, the offense would find its flow.
2 - The offense has always been good with this team. Vince is finally coming around despite apparent lack of lift leaving some shots at the rim, but that would follow.
3 - Short of losing the sight of one game at a time, the stage is set for a fantastic 4-0 this week, with games against short-handed NO and CHI being winnable.
At 4:25 PM,
Big Figure said…
To your points. (1)You call them jekyll and hyde but thats not the case at all. Dwight was in foul trouble for the majority of the first half and the celtics took advantage,good teams do that when a star is out. It wasnt surprising to see the celtics take a double digit halftime lead,again dwight was out and we went basically to a perimeter game that actually kept us in it somewhat. Anybody with some basic basketball intelligence would have figured if the magic could keep howard on the floor in the second half that the game would be completely different,they would have a chance to win in my opinion (and thats exactly what happened). (2) Lets not try and point out something when it was just one game. Before you mention JJ who had one bad defensive game,think about how MP who you were lobbying for has stunk all year. When JJ's getting routinely abused and the key word you used is "abused",then we'll talk about him being demoted from second best defender. The only thing i agree with is point(3). Giving up the lead to the wiz and likes is alarming and the guys need to focus for 48,we're not well oiled enough to let up when we have teams down.
At 4:34 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
It did get a little shaky there in the final few minutes for the Magic, but they have to focus on playing smart when they have such a big fourth quarter lead.
It wasn't smart of Howard to foul Kevin Garnett when KG was right at the basket and Dwight was well behind him. Just let Garnett get the layup in that situation or else wrap him up good so he can't get the shot off, but Dwight was too far behind him so he just should have let him get the layup; instead, it was a three point play.
The Magic took a couple of shots early in the shot clock in the final minutes; no need to do that when you're protecting a sizable lead.
Fortunately, the bottom line is they held on to win, and did not let Boston get closer than 5 points.
At 4:34 PM,
Big Figure said…
Completely agree with the positive points. Defensively the numbers dont say it but i beleive this team is better than last years team. MB at SF has done a better job than hedo defensively. VC at SG has done a better job than CLee who was a little undersized. Jameer,rashard and dwight are the obvious holdovers and we've seen what they can do. The difference is VC and MB both being physical and not afraid to mix it up underneath the basket,we improved at those spots defensively without question. VC blockin big baby's shit,PRICELESS!
At 10:07 AM,
Matt said…
Big Figure:
I don't like to argue just for the sake of argument. Forget about Jekyll and Hyde. Consistency is what i am preaching. Elite teams are consistent, and Magic cannot dig its way out of deep holes all the time despite that being the norm even in so many play-off games last year. Say what you will, but to me it's absurd not to admit that MP is a better defender than J.J.
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