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, May 29, 2010

ECF Game 6: Celtics 96, Magic 84... Celtics win series 4 -2


The pressure was squarely on Boston in Game 6, and they responded in resounding fashion, as the Magic had the lead for only 11 seconds in the game, 12-11 in the first. The game was not as close as the final score might indicate, as the Celtics jumped out to a 21 point second quarter lead, thanks to backup PG Nate Robinson's 13 second quarter points. The Magic managed to cut their deficit to 13 points at halftime, 55-42, but the Celtics extended their lead to as much as 80-56 late in the third and led by a commanding 82-61 margin heading into the fourth. The Celtics went back up by 24 points early in the fourth 85-61, but the Magic went on a 13-3 run over the next 7:01 to cut their deficit to 88-74 with 4:40 remaining. The Celtics then scored the 8 of the next 12 points to put the game away, as the Magic scored the last 6 points in garbage time.

Congratulations to the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics. They truly earned it, as they beat the top two teams (in terms of record) in the NBA, Cleveland and Orlando, 4 games to 2 in each series. The Magic made the series very interesting after falling behind 3 games to none, but their season ends in disappointment. They will have to watch the NBA Finals this year instead of participating like last year.

Magic leading scorers

Dwight Howard: 28 points (11 of 17 FGs, 6 of 12 FTs), 12 rebounds, 2 steals
Vince Carter: 17 points (6 of 15 FGs, 1 of 4 3 PT FGs), 7 rebounds
Jameer Nelson: 11 points (5 of 14 FGs, 1 of 5 3 PT FGs), 4 assists, 5 turnovers

Overall Game Statistics

FG%: ORL 43.1% (31 of 72) BOS 42.7% (32 of 75)
3 PT FG%: BOS 45.5% (10 of 22) ORL 27.3% (6 of 22)
FT%: BOS 81.5% (22 of 27) ORL 59.3% (16 of 27)
REB: BOS 45 (11 offensive) ORL 35 (9 offensive)
AST/TO: BOS 19/17 ORL 14/12
BENCH: ORL 20 BOS 19

Other game notes and stats:

-In addition to Nate Robinson, four other Celtics scored in double figures, led by Paul Pierce with 31 points (9 of 15 FGs, 4 of 5 3 PT FGs, 9 of 10 FTs), 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals; Ray Allen added 20 points; Rajon Rondo 14 points, 6 assists, and Kevin Garnett 10 points
-Rashard Lewis (7 points) and Matt Barnes (1 point) combined for just 8 points on 3 of 11 FGs as Barnes did not attempt a FG
-J.J. Redick and Mickael Pietrus each scored 7 points to lead the Magic reserves
-Glen Davis, coming off a concussion in Game 5, scored 6 points with 7 rebounds off the Celtics' bench
-After leading Boston in scoring in Game 5, Rasheed Wallace went scoreless on 0 for 5 FGs off the Celtics' bench in Game 6
-The Celtics missed 12 of 13 FGs with 2 turnovers in the 7:01 span of the fourth quarter when the Magic outscored the Celtics 13-3, but the Magic shot just 4 of 9 from the field and 4 of 8 from the free throw line with 2 turnovers during that same span

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

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 4:23 AM  

5 Comments:

  • At 4:42 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I said before the game that if both Howard and Nelson play well, the Magic would have a good chance at winning. D12 did his part, and Carter contributed also, but Jameer had a sub-par game, while Rondo was very aggressive for Boston, and Robinson was huge for the Celtics, especially in the second quarter. Lewis and Barnes both had sub-par games offensively also for the Magic.

    If only the Magic hadn't fallen so far behind, as the Celtics played poorly in the fourth quarter and scored just 14 points, but when you have a 21 point lead entering the fourth quarter, you're in pretty good shape.

    The Celtics had a huge edge in three point shooting pct., free throw shooting pct., and rebounding.

    Again, congrats to the Celtics and good luck to them in the Finals.

    What went wrong with the Magic, and where do they go from here? All us Magic fans can now discuss that in the days and months ahead.

    It should be a very interesting 5 months leading to the start of the 2010-11 season in the new Amway Center.

     

  • At 1:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Where was Brandon Bass last night. Did Stan Van Gundy forget to play Bass at the 4 and Lewis as the 3. Stan may be a great x's and o's guy but he is a lousy game coach. He doesn't react in game situations. I hope Howard goes to Otis Smith and says it's time for the screaming out of control Van Gundy to go. We will never win a championship with him as coach. He could't win in Miami and won't win in Orlando. Stan might be a great assistant coach somewhere but not as a head coach. Doc Rivers wants to come back to the Magic. The players want him. It is time to fire Stan and bring on Doc

     

  • At 3:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    The long weekend will give Barnes plenty of time to hone his intimadating stills on Real Housewives of the NBA.

     

  • At 12:41 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I disagree that Van Gundy should be fired. I put this series loss on the players; they're the ones who need to go out and execute and they simply didn't do that. Was Van Gundy perfect? No, but you can't blame the coach on the players' lack of execution.

     

  • At 6:54 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    We would see this summer how serious the Magic ownership is in the pursuit of championship beyond an empty shell of announcing it as a target. They showed their seriousness of trading for Vince last year, which I applauded at the time. Vince did not produce as expected, but even if he did, the team is not built to compete with either LAL or BOS. Say as you will about Rashard's creating mismatches at PF, but that would not hold true when it comes to big frontlines of LA and BOS, as well as it did not test well against CLE. If the ownership is serious about championship, then the team's structure has to change.

    We need a true PF, and the city's son Amare is going to be on the market, and surely would love to play with Dwight. After all, he is tired of banging with big centers while his built is more suited to PF position. We cannot move Rashard's contract but we can move him to SF. Vince's expiring contract is attractive to some teams. There is also quite a bit of interest interest in Gortat. But I am not advocating Vince's trade, and rather believe in going over the salary cap, as I have always been. Devos family owes that much to the city of Orlando especially now that they are getting a new arena. The team as is built right now cannot get over the hump in the East, let alone beating the Lakers.

     

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