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, May 19, 2010

Game 2 ECF: Celtics 95, Magic 92... Celtics lead series 2-0


Boston has taken control of the series thanks to 28 points from SF Paul Pierce and 25 points and 8 assists from PG Rajon Rondo. The Magic, led by Dwight Howard's 30 points, trailed most of the game as another frantic fourth quarter comeback attempt fell just short.

The Magic got out to their first lead of the series early in the first quarter, leading 5-4 and 10-9, before Boston went on a 14-2 run to take a 23-12 lead with 4:43 remaining. The Magic then went on a 16-2 surge, sparked by J.J. Redick scoring 9 of those points, to take a 28-25 lead before the Celtics cut the Magic lead to 28-27 after one. The second quarter was close throughout, as the Celtics' largest lead of the quarter coming at 41-36 and 53-48, but the Magic were able to close their deficit to 53-51 at the half. Dwight Howard was called for a Flagrant 1 foul after fouling Paul Pierce hard with 4:16 remaining in the half.

The Magic took the lead briefly in the third at 59-57, but then went 6:18 without a field goal and just one free throw as the Celtics went on a 13-1 run for their largest lead of the quarter at 70-60 with 4:49 left in the third. The Magic cut their deficit to single digits after three quarters 78-70. Rasheed Wallace's three pointer to open the fourth gave the Celtics their largest lead of the game at 81-70. The Magic went on a 13-4 run to cut their deficit to 85-83 with 6:57 remaining. The Magic took their last lead of the game 90-89 on a Vince Carter jumper with
3:36 remaining, before the Celtics took the lead back for good 91-90. Redick was then called for a questionable offensive foul on the ensuing possession, with the Celtics then going ahead 93-90. A Jameer Nelson driving layup with 55.8 seconds remaining cut the Boston lead to 93-92, then two Pierce free throws gave Boston a 95-92 lead with 34.7 seconds remaining. Carter was fouled with 31.4 seconds left, but missed both free throws. Garnett missed a jumper with 8.9 seconds left, with Redick getting the rebound but advancing the ball instead of calling timeout right away, meaning the Magic had to inbound the ball at halfcourt instead of closer to their basket. A 35 foot running three pointer by Nelson barely grazed the outside of the net as time ran out on what may have been the last game ever at Amway Arena.

Magic leading scorers

Dwight Howard: 30 points (9 of 13 FGs, 12 of 17 FTs), 8 rebounds
Vince Carter: 16 points (5 of 15 FGs, 5 of 7 FTs), 3 steals
J.J. Redick (bench): 16 points (3 of 9 FGs, 2 of 3 3 PGs, 8 of 8 FTs), 5 rebounds, 4 assists

Overall Game Stats

FG%: BOS 45.9% (34 of 74) ORL 39.4% (28 of 71)
3 PT FG%: ORL 38.9% (7 of 18) BOS 33.3% (5 of 15)
FT%: BOS 78.6% (22 of 28) ORL 76.3% (29 of 38)
REB: BOS 38 (9 offensive) ORL 36 (10 offensive)
AST/TO: BOS 20/15 ORL 18/14
BENCH: ORL 26 BOS 18

Other game notes and stats:

-Four Celtics scored in double figures, led by Pierce's 28 points on 8 of 16 FGs and 9 of 11 FTs along with 5 rebounds and 5 assists before fouling out late; Rondo scored 25 points on 10 of 16 FGs, and 5 of 6 FTs along with 8 assists; Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins each added 10 points
-The Celtics' Ray Allen was held to 4 points on 1 of 6 shooting
-Glen Davis led the Celtics' bench with 8 points and 6 rebounds
-Nelson (9 points), Rashard Lewis (5 points) and Matt Barnes (6 points) combined to score 20 points on 8 of 27 FGs, including 2 of 8 on threes for the Magic
-Other than Howard and Marcin Gortat (1 of 1 FGs), the seven other Magic players combined to shoot 18 of 57 from the field and no one else shot 50% or better
-Lewis attempted just 6 FGs in 41 minutes
-Lewis, Nelson, and Redick each had 4 assists
-The Celtics were called for 29 team fouls, with Pierce and Perkins fouling out, while the Magic were called for 25 team fouls with Howard and Carter with 4 fouls apiece

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

17 Comments:

  • At 4:30 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Well, Dwight had a much better game than Game 1, the Magic shot better from three point range than Game 1, they did not turn the ball over as much and they had more assists than Game 1 but still lost the game... unbelievable.

    D12 did not get enough help. When J.J. Redick scores more points (16 pts) than Nelson and Lewis combined (14 points), that's not a good thing.

    Of course, Rondo was huge for them, and he badly outplayed Jameer. Pierce could not be stopped either, especially in the first half.

    With Rashard struggling so much, I don't understand why Coach Van Gundy didn't put in Ryan Anderson at all to at least change things up.

    I have to admit I am really impressed with Boston's defense, and they did what they had to do to win the game. They did not panic when the Magic took back the lead late in the game.

    I know there were a couple of dubious calls against the Magic in the final five minutes of the game, but overall, the Magic attempted 10 more FTs than Boston, and there is no excuse for VC missing both FTs and Redick having a huge brain cramp in not calling the timeout there at the end.

    Other than D12, the Magic shot 19 of 58... less than 33% in such an important game... ouch.

    The Magic fought like heck though in the fourth quarter again, but it wasn't enough. The Celtics have been the better team these first two games, unfortunately.

    If only the Magic can do something to win Game 3, this will be a series again.

     
  • At 8:21 AM, Anonymous Jeff said…

    best blog...

     
  • At 8:45 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Thanks for stoppin by jeff. Yea mike,one win can at least extend the series a little longer. But i have to be honest,this is a different team than the one that beat boston last year. Last year with turk and RA we were a passing and ball movement team that got shots for everybody,but this team only has jameer as a passer/ball handler and thats not gonna get it done against the celtics. I think keeping jameer over RA at the time was the right decision because jameer didnt have a chance to prove his worth in the playoffs last year being injured when he came back. But now that we've seen him just get abused by rondo and him basically shutting jameer down,it may be time to start looking for the new RA which just means a big pass first PG. And on another note:Last years squad needed matt barnes,the guys might be wearing rings right now if he had been on that team instead of CLee.

     
  • At 8:53 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Ill give jammer a little credit for scoring 20 pts in game one,but at the same time he was 2-7 from three and 8-18 from the field to go with two assists. Not good! Doc rivers made a statement before the series that if they could slow/stop jameer the magic will crumble. I cant believe that he was right. Jameer against the league? Very good. Jameer against elite playoff PG's one-on-one with size? (billups,rondo) Not so good!

     
  • At 8:59 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    And also not real happy with SVG either to be honest. (1)RyanA should play some and be able to help at the PF spot,rashard obviously needs it because defending KG is taking a toll on his offense. (2)Posting dwight routinely isnt getting us anywhere,this is the old BSH offense were running for crying out loud. (3)Why does SVG allow jameer to dribble around so much basically using up the shot clock on pick-and-rolls,he does way to much dribbling and not enough shooting at some points.

     
  • At 9:57 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    We need to focus on the positives for the time being. This series is not over yet, and if we take one game at a time, who knows what is going to happen. To think of it, this game could have easily gone our way if a few mishaps would have not taken place, and one seriously bad call at the end. I know calls may even out but there is a difference with under two minutes to go when a team is up by one or down by one. The charge call on J.J. was not only questionable, but ESPN showed that even prior to that collision J.J. was fouled by Garnette when he tried to turn the corner, and Magic was already in the penalty.

    I still believe that BOS's old legs could become a factor, even if they take game 3 which takes place after 3 days of rest. Granted there is no sign of such happening since they are still using an 8-man rotation.

    BOS has played extremely well, and I guess we were not ready for that much of resistance. Know we are in a dog fight, but we can win games in BOS. Heck, if we win only one in BOS we are coming back home, and who knows what is going to happen.

    Keep faith and don't despair. We can talk about changes after the season is over. This series is not over, and neither is the season. Not yet.

     
  • At 11:59 AM, Anonymous Tom, from Akron said…

    Matt---How in the world is it the refs fault for Vince carter missing both freethrows with 30 seconds left. and how is it the refs fault for JJ not being able to advance the ball???????????????????????


    Stop blaming the refs. you are getting outplayed and outcoached. badly. good luck in game 3


    -Tom

     
  • At 12:09 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Matt i agree that the series and season are'nt over,your right. But the celtics have now figured out a way to beat us twice on our home court. Both games were completely different. Game one rondo didnt even really shoot and they beat us with PP and RA doing most of the scoring. Game two,RA took a back seat and let rondo abuse jameer while PP still had his way with VC early. Matt barnes did a good job on PP late but using him on PP means VC has to run around screens chasing RA which didnt work so well last night. We wound up going with JJ who did a respectable job chasing RA off screens. We dont match-up well with them with our starting unit and its becoming more clear. MB needs to be guarding PP who is their best one-on-one player,but VC cant chase RA so we're in a bad spot that isnt going to get any better this series. Technically the series isnt over,but realistically it is.

     
  • At 12:14 PM, Anonymous Tom, from Akron said…

    I agree with ya bigfig. having barnes on your team last year wouuld have been great for you. but i still think it was a huge downgrade to go from turk to vince. considering you have the turk version who cares about basketball and winning like he did last year. This year turk doesnt give to you know whats abuot the game.


    -Tom

     
  • At 12:20 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Then add in the fact that jameer lacks the size to slow rondo,even if he out scores rondo we still are in position to lose games because our PG doesnt make anyone better. I cant believe i was the only one a couple of months ago praising rondo's game here,well he's showing you guys that you dont have to be a great character guy or a great shooter to be a great PG!!! 6 BIG assists in two games for jameer and thats on his home floor,we are'nt getting the type of leadership that Rafer gave us last year and thats the bottom line. Mark my words,we will not beat the celtics with jameer averaging less than 5 assists per game in this series. Oh and by the way,matt what are the positives??? Your post with all due respect was full of ifs,paragraph 1,2 and three had some pretty big if's in there. I dont work on if's im a bottom line type of guy. I can respect the last thing you said though,which was basically "keep the faith"! I respect it,but my faith is gone. I only have hope left.

     
  • At 12:29 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Mike we need some cleaning up on the blog. The un-intelligent posters are out again. And at their usual time,when a team loses they have so much to say. FYI to all haters,you only get respect if you make predictions and talk trash BEFORE the game! But after the game it just sounds like monday morning Quarter backing(blah blah blah)and nobody respects those type of comments. But keep them coming,they will be deleted soon enough.

     
  • At 6:19 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    My apologies to you guys who can discuss the game on an intelligent level that you have to put up with the trolls' remarks until I can delete them.

    I've said it before, and I'll say it again... offensive remarks and personal attacks will result in your comment being deleted in due time, and will result in the comments section being shut down.

    There is no reason why someone can't come on here and discuss things on a reasonably intelligent level without any offensive/personal attacks being involved.

    Peace, everyone.

     
  • At 7:01 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Three strikes and your out! The magic better play like game three is their last because if they lose game three they'll be fighting history. History says when down 3-0 nobody comes back to win the series. I think the magic can win game three but its mostly hope speaking. If they are to win,SVG has to stop posting dwight as our first option and start getting the ball in the hands of our most expensive player. Rashard will make free-throws,he needs to be getting shots on the block. He may even need to play some SF and make PP have to guard the post which will slow his offense down dramatically. Cant get out and run if your under the hoop trying to defend the post. Everything revolves around us being a better offensive team and once that gets going the celtics wont be able to match the scoring output,that i have faith in. Magic are down to their last strike!

     
  • At 7:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Play like y'all want the ring, WE HAVE TO WIN THIS POSTSEASON
    Remember our goal, DON'T get Discouraged, Play HARDER & Never Let up Until we get that ring Magic!!! We can't let our journey end with Boston. CAN"T!!!!!!!

     
  • At 7:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Play like y'all want the ring, WE HAVE TO WIN THIS POSTSEASON
    Remember our goal, DON'T get Discouraged, Play HARDER & Never Let up Until we get that ring Magic!!! We can't let our journey end with Boston. CAN"T!!!!!!!

     
  • At 7:38 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    Tom, from Akron:

    I am not blaming the refs. I just pointed out a particular instance where a call could have affected the eventual outcome. While I agree that BOS seemed to be in control, I don't believe that they were dominant the way some pundits want to frame. In fact, I believe that score-wise these games could have gone either way, and the same applies to games in BOS. Some adjustments would be forthcoming, and Rashard needs to show up for work; they say that he had a flu and his energy level was down. That is more of a reason that the coach should have played Ryan or Brandon or both. I think MP should get more minutes against Pierce, as well.

     
  • At 11:08 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    Don't blame Rashard Lewis - he expended all his energy on defense, shutting down KG the last two games. For a full video breakdown, visit us at:
    http://bballbreakdown.com

     

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