On a night where the Orlando Magic (33-9) had the national eye on them, planning to officially make their bid for the mid-season title of “Best in the NBA”; the Boston Celtics (36-9) were met by a sold out crowd at Amway Arena and showed why they are the defending champions, as they defeated the Magic 90-80.
The Magic entered Thursday’s game with the best winning percentage in the league. Also to their credit, were seven straight wins, including a four game west coast road trip where they defeated three division leaders; San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, and Denver Nuggets. The Celtics, who beat Orlando back on December 1st, came into Thursday’s game winners of six straight games. They were playing the second game of a back to back, the first one being a win against Miami. However, it was the Magic who looked like they were on the second game of a back to back, and the Celtics who looked fresh and energetic.
The Magic, who recently broke the NBA record for most three point field goals in a game with twenty three against the Sacramento Kings on January 13th, shot a dismal 38.2 percent from the field and an even worse 31.8 percent from behind the arch, both are way under their season averages. Boston shot a much better 46.7 percent from the field but did not make any of their three point attempts.
Orlando was able to cut a 14 point 4th quarter deficit to only 7 after Jameer Nelson, who scored 11 of his 17 points in the 4th quarter, hit a twelve foot jump shot at the 2:59 mark. Dwight Howard, who earlier in the night was named the starting center for the Eastern Conference All-star Team, fouled out of the game shortly after Nelson’s shot, contributing only eleven points and eleven rebounds. Howard struggled through out the entire game with great defense by both Kendrick Perkins, and fellow All-star Kevin Garnett who finished with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Surprisingly, the 4th quarter belonged to an unexpected player off the Celtic’s bench. Glen Davis played the entire 4th quarter in which he would score 12 of his 16 points, which helped propel the Celtics to victory.
The Magic could not find an answer for the Celtic’s player, Paul Pierce. Hedo Turkoglu was given the unpleasant job of guarding the Celtic’s leading scorer for most of the game. Pierce finished with 27 points on 11 of 14 shooting. Pierce scored 9 of his 27 in the 3rd quarter as the Celtics lead grew to as big as 16 at one point. Turkoglu scored 8 of his team leading 22 points in the quarter.
The Magic missed 11 of their 14 first half 3 point attempts, which helped the Celtics grab a 44-36 halftime lead. The Celtics had balanced scoring in the 2nd quarter with 6 players scoring, of which 4 had at least 4 points in the quarter led by Paul Pierce’s 5 points in rout to outscoring the Magic 20-17 in the 2nd quarter.
The only time Orlando tasted the lead was in the 1st quarter where there were 3 lead changes and 3 ties. Orlando’s biggest lead of the game came at the 9:05 mark of the 1st quarter when Howard hit a running hook shot to give the Magic a four point lead. Rashard Lewis scored 7 of his 20 points while also grabbing 8 of his eventual 10 rebounds in the 1st quarter. Seven of those 1st quarter rebounds were offensive.
With the loss, the Magic fell to 3rd in the Easter Conference, while the Celtics moved into 1st place. The Magic play the defending champs two more times this season, first at Boston on March 8th, and then back in Orlando on March 25th. Both games could have very big playoff implications. The Magic play next on Saturday against their in-state rivals, the Miami Heat. Boston has a couple days off until they welcome the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
