At the end of regulation the score stood Magic 95, Celtics 90. For Orlando fans, tonight's game hardly seems like a win, so exasperating was the Magic's atrocious second half performance. Relinquishing most of a 28-point lead, the team struggled on both ends of the court, failing to find the threes that fell so freely in the first half as the Celtics laid on the full-court press.
Still, a "W" is a "W" and, as any NBA fan will tell you, the primary goal of a lower-seeded team in the playoffs is to take one game from its opponent on the road. What the Magic need to do now is watch a ton of video from tonight's game and clamp down. They need to be ready for the press when it inevitably comes. They have the match-up advantage down low, but they won't always be able to rely on Ray Allen going cold from all over.
Lewis (18 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals) played well in the post, but Turkoglu continues to wobble on the majority of his possessions - turning the ball over on basic mistakes and hurling idiot passes. Dwight Howard had a very solid game with 16 points, 22 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 3 assists, while J.J. Redick (12 points) surprised almost everyone by outscoring Ray Allen (9 points).
The Magic cannot hope to win a series against the Celtics if they continue to unravel in the third and fourth quarters. They have to meet the Celtics' intensity and fight a lot harder on every possession if they're going to see this through. They can absolutely do it, especially with the Celtics throwing away points early on, but this is round 2 and getting through round 2 requires elevating your game another notch. Both teams have lost talent to injury – to some extent it makes their competition fairer. The Magic win this series by grabbing the wheel and refusing to let go.
Let's just hope they've got the claws.
BOX SCORE
Inconsistent point guard play was the culprit. AJ was constantly getting blown away by Rondo and Alston turned the ball over 4 times, uncharacteristically high for him.
ReplyDeleteHedo was fine aside from those free throw misses and a couple of ill-advised shots. He hit a huge three late in the 3rd to help stop the bleeding.
No bad wins in the playoffs though, and it's the Celtics who were down 28 points at home.