Orlando Magic suffer historic collapse, fall to Boston Celtics

If you called this the most devastating loss in Orlando Magic history, I wouldn’t argue with you. If the Magic lose one of the next two games, this meltdown will go down with Nick Anderson’s missed free throws, Shaq’s departure and Fran Vazquez as some of the worst memories in the history of this franchise. The loss was unacceptable, from everyone involved — that includes players AND coaches. With your team up by 10 points in the final minutes of a crucial Game 5, how can you completely abandon everything that’s been working all game? The Magic went scoreless on eight consecutive possessions, at a time when just ONE basket probably puts the game away. I understand Dwight Howard can’t figure out Kendrick Perkins in the post, but he deserves to be completely ignored? Rashard Lewis was consistently scoring in the first half by attacking the hoop, so the Magic use him as a spot-up shooter down the home stretch? And how many times can we run a Hedo Turkoglu pick-and-roll to the right with everyone else standing around? The Magic played stall-ball, slowing down their offense and hoping there wasn’t enough time for Boston to come back. Now, tell me — when has this plan ever worked? That’s how teams squander leads; they stop playing the way that built their lead to begin with. The Magic got scared, and I think we saw that these guys aren’t ready for the big-time yet. Let’s take a look at Orlando’s eight possessions from 5:43 until the Celtics started fouling at the end.

Rafer Alston missed 3-pointer

Rashard Lewis missed jump shot

Rashard Lewis missed 3-pointer

Rashard Lewis missed turnover

Rashard Lewis missed 3-pointer

Hedo Turkoglu missed jump shot

Rafer Alston turnover

Rafer Alston missed 3-pointer

Missed jump shot. Missed jump shot. No attacking. No aggressiveness. No Dwight Howard. In fact, the Magic’s most aggressive play was when Alston drove down the left side of the lane and threw the ball about 20 feet in the air in the direction of the rim, hoping Howard would come down with it. Howard’s good, but there were four Celtics converging on the ball. Stan Van Gundy was a constant target after the game, and deservedly so. Text messages and facebook posts were constantly degrading Van Gundy for tonight’s debacle — and Dwight Howard got in on the action in the post-game press conference. “The coaches have to recognize what’s working on the floor,” Howard said. “Stick to it. Even if it’s half your starters on the floor. Not just the guys you have put the most trust in. You have to have trust in everybody.” Howard added: “When you have a dominant player, let him be dominant.” While going to Howard in the post has proven futile for pretty much the entire series, Howard has a point. Howard is your star player, and you have to ride with him — especially with the offense as stagnant as it was. But that’s not all that you could question Van Gundy. Here are my concerns: 1. Leaving Courtney Lee out of the game until the final minute. Instead of playing Lee during crunch-time, Van Gundy went with JJ Redick, who didn’t see the ball on offense and allowed Ray Allen to hit the go-ahead and back-breaking 3-pointer with 1:20 to play. I’m not blaming Redick for allowing the shot, but it’s worth mentioning that Orlando’s best perimeter player was sitting on the bench. 2. Not scoring out of timeouts. With 3:56 left in the fourth quarter, the Magic called a timeout as the Celtics had cut the lead to 85-79. Coming out of the break, Rashard Lewis turned the ball over and the steal led to a Paul Pierce lay-up. That was really the best they could do coming out of a timeout? 3. Inability to get the ball to a shooter. When the Magic were inbounding the ball with 6 seconds left, down by three, they inbounded the ball into Dwight Howard, who got immediately fouled by Glen Davis. So, needing three points, we can’t find a way to get the ball to anyone but the team’s worst free-throw shooter? You knew they were going to insta-foul when Howard got the ball. 4. Not sticking to what’s worked in the past. At the end of Game 4, the Magic were able to mount a comeback by taking Rafer Alston out of the lineup and having Hedo Turkoglu play point forward. With the game slowing down anyways, the Lee-Pietrus-Turkoglu-Lewis-Howard lineup was adequate on offense and deadly on defense. Did we see that lineup tonight? Not for a minute. No, the Magic went with JJ Redick and Alston at the two guard spots. Who needs defense when you’re protecting a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter? Now, I’m not trying to blame Van Gundy for the loss. The players deserve a lot of the blame — they allowed the Celtics to score 33 fourth-quarter points, including on 13 of their final 15 possessions. And the offense was struggling because of the players’ play, as well. These are issues that Van Gundy has to think about. And, going forward, we must ask — is this Magic team really capable of playing with the big boys? We know they can do it in the regular season and in short spurts, but on the big stage they have whimpered away twice in a row now. It’s certainly cause for concern. And with one more loss, we’ll have all summer long to think about it.