Game 3 ECF Preview
8:30 ESPN
Here is an excerpt from the Yahoo! Sports preview:
“We’ve won there before, and there’s no reason we can’t do it again,” forward Rashard Lewis said Friday as the Magic prepared for Game 3. “Boston came to us and beat us twice on our home court, so it’s happened before. Why can’t we do it? Why can’t it happen again?”
Orlando was one of two teams—Atlanta was the other—to win twice in Boston this year. The Magic also remember coming to town in last year’s playoffs, when they beat Boston twice—including the Celtics’ first-ever loss at home in a seventh game—to advance to the conference finals.
“Last year, Boston never lost a Game 7 on their home floor. We went in and beat them,” Lewis said. “It can happen.”
Here is the complete preview from Yahoo! Sports.
The Celtics are 3 1/2 point favorites at -170 odds to win Game 3.
For the series, the Celtics are -500 odds to win, while the Magic are +375 underdogs.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 4:57 AM
5 Comments:
At 5:17 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Here's hoping that starters Jameer Nelson, Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, and Matt Barnes all come back from their mediocre Game 2 performances, and that Mickael Pietrus can return to his old self providing a big spark coming off the bench.
I like the attitude and confidence of the team going into Game 3. They only lost Games 1 and 2 by a combined 7 points, so it wasn't like they were blown out of the water.
A victory tonight, and the Magic are right back in the series! It will be tough against an outstanding Celtics' team, but not impossible.
At 8:39 PM,
ZMII said…
Down 0-2 the Magic bring their game into TD Garden and hope for the best against "the old guys"! The Magic have not played their best ball in this series and with Boston playing .500 ball since Santa slid down the chimney (27-27) the lead that Boston has is VERY surprising. The Magic on a tear since where they did not lose a game until the beginning of this series seem like deer caught in the headlights as they cannot manufacture a win regardless how hard they play. Pierce being guarded by Vince Carter has been a joke and Carter has to realize that DEFENSE means more right now than points. He has to stop complaining and take the Paul Pierce defensive approach and play "D" first, as Pierce did against the LeBron & the Cavs and put scoring in the backseat.
Orlando is definitely quicker than Boston but Boston is using their basketball intelligence to "outquick" the younger, more fleet-footed Orlando team. Orlando has to have Howard pay a complete game, WITH HELP, and not play to the crowd with all the cheesing smiles and waves to the crowd that he had in Game 2. Howard must realize that he is in jeopardy of going on vacation shortly if he does not take this series more seriously! This is not a movie and it is not going to end the way that the Director wants it to end unless the Director is coach Doc Rivers!!
Game on!!!!!!
At 11:54 PM,
Anonymous said…
I hate to do this.
I'm a Lakers fan and I can actually give the magic hope of wining a few games.
I'll tell you guys what the organization must do.
1. Take all of Sunday off and get a motivational speaker to talk to your team after watching some game footage.
2. Van Gundy to change his personality from loud to speaking QUIETLY as opposed to coming off unconfident on Monday night.
3. Practice for exactly 3/4 hour on Monday morning with 40% intensity.
4. Have Van Gundy take the day off untill game night Monday. The other coaches have to take the load on Monday.
5. Save Van Gundy's voice until gametime and have him talk with calmlness and a notch down just enough for the players to hear him.
6. He can't change his tone of voice all game long so all he can do is to try to keep consistant for 3 hours. Good luck with this.
7. Last words spoken on Saturday night to the team should be "WE WILL WIN"(with actual belief, if not,the tone will give Van Gundy) and nothing else!!!
THAT'S YOUR ONLY HOPE TO WIN THE NEXT GAME.
Game 4 would consist of a lot of calmness from Van Gundy. Not sadness but calmness with optimism ( he shouldn't expect too much).
A game is long and emotions can take energy from a team. Don't go into game 4 with too much emotion, just pure focus and saved energy!!!
J J Reddick is gonna have to shoot open 3s.
Howard and Carter need to meditate for 3 hours straight. They don't need to practice for more than 1 hour on game day. Have them work 15 minutes on palm stroke, 30 minutes on shooting ( the moment they get a rhythm and shots start going in stop immediately, don't keep shooting just because the shot is going in. This recipe is your only hope people.
The things that sound dumb will work for this dumb team that is the Magic.
I'm not gonna tell you how to win more games though. I want the Lakers vs Boston for 08 revenge. But I want a longer series also. Good Luck!!!
At 4:14 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
ZMII and "anonymous"... thanks for dropping by the blog and leaving your thoughts.
ZMII, the key thing with Boston now is that they are healthy, and their veterans, along with Rondo, have great team chemistry. They started the season out a superb 23-5 before the injury bug hit them; thus, the 27-27 finish.
"Anonymous"... if it does wind up being the Celtics/Lakers in the Finals, it should be a heck of a series. I don't blame you for wanting the Magic/Celtics series to go longer.
At 11:34 PM,
Matt said…
Anonymous:
You were doing OK with your dumb suggestions until you admitted to: "The things that sound dumb will work for this dumb team that is the Magic". Thanks for dropping in.
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