The Orlando Magic return to the site of perhaps their biggest road victory in franchise history on Friday when they take on the Boston Celtics at the T.D. Banknorth Garden on Friday night.
The two teams met in the second round of the 2009 playoffs and the Magic won a tough, hard fought seven-game series after the Celtics took a 3-2 lead.
Orlando is coming off of their most complete win of the season, a 108-94 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday. The Celtics are also coming in on a good note after getting a 109-95 win against the Golden State Warriors.
Both teams have identical 9-3 records and are tied for second place in the Eastern Conference behind the Atlanta Hawks (10-2).
The game will tip-off at 8:00 pm EST and will be shown on Sun Sports. Don’t live in Florida? Don’t have League pass? Don’t worry; the game will be televised nationally by ESPN. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can hear it locally on WDBO 580 AM and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030.
The Line: Boston – 7
Starters
Orlando
Dwight Howard
Rashard Lewis
Mickael Pietrus
Vince Carter
Jason Williams
Boston
Kendrick Perkins
Kevin Garnett
Paul Pierce
Ray Allen
Rajon Rondo
Last Meeting: When these two teams last met, the Celtics watched the Orlando Magic celebrate a game 7 victory that earned them a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals on their home floor. Hedo Turkoglu had his best game of the postseason, scoring 25 points and dishing out 15 assists. Dwight Howard had 12 points and 16 rebounds. Rashard Lewis had 19 points and Mickael Pietrus scored 17 off of the bench. After Rajon Rondo’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer cut Orlando’s lead to just 5 points at the end of the third quarter, it looked like the Magic were on the verge of blowing another big lead like they did in game five of the series, but the Magic scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter and never looked back.
Season Series: The Magic and Celtics split the season series 2-2. Boston won the first meeting on December 1, 2008, 107-88 in Boston and won the second meeting 90-80 in Orlando. Orlando won at the Garden 86-79 on March 8 and 84-82 at home on March 25.
In the playoffs, the Magic raced out to a big game one lead before hanging on for a 95-90 win. The Celtics blew out the Magic in game two 112-94 before the Magic returned the favor in game three 117-96. Orlando came from behind to take a one-point lead in game five before Glen “Big Baby” Davis hit a jumper at the buzzer. The Magic blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead in game five and lost 92-88. The Magic did not hit a basket in the last 5:39. In game six, Orlando made a comeback of their own. The Magic trailed by 10 in the third quarter but dominated the remainder of the game, winning 83-75. Dwight Howard had 23 points and 22 rebounds. The Magic blew out the Celtics in the decisive game seven to win the series.
About the Magic: Mickael Pietrus practiced on Thursday after suffering from a fever Wednesday night.
"Mickael Pietrus had a fever following Wednesday night’s victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Coach Stan Van Gundy said, but Pietrus felt better Thursday and practiced alongside his teammates. The group focused on running its offense with more energy and ball movement and worked on its defense for the game against the Celtics."
This is very good news for Orlando. Pietrus was excellent against the Celtics during the 2009 postseason.
The Magic stumbled to a 6-3 start but have won three games in a row and played what was probably their best game of the year on Wednesday, a 108-94 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Magic shot 48% and held the Thunder to just 41% shooting. The Thunder were shooting just 33% and trailed 88-58 when the fourth quarter began.
Rashard Lewis looked rusty in his return to the Magic from his 10-game suspension Monday against the Hornets. He scored 10 points on just 4-of-15 shooting, but Lewis was excellent in Wednesday night’s win over Oklahoma City.
Lewis shot 7-of-16, hit his first two 3-pointers of the season, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out 9 assists, barley missing out on his first triple-double. Lewis will need to continue his high level of play, especially with Jameer Nelson out for 4-to-6 weeks.
About the Celtics: The Celtics got star Forward Kevin Garnett back. Garnett played in 57 games last season but missed the entire postseason with a knee injury. Garnet’s not lighting up on offense (he’s scoring 13.5 points per game and grabbing 7.3 rebounds per game). His biggest impact comes on the defensive end. In the 25 games that KG missed last season, the Celtics gave up over 7 more points per game than in the games he played. Opponents scored 98.2 ppg when Garnett was out with his injury and 90.7 ppg when Garnett played. KG’s defensive win share was 4.1 (in just 57 games). KG is what makes Boston’s defense go – they are second in the NBA in points per game allowed and are the most efficient defense in the entire NBA.
The Celtics have also added certified Magic killer Rasheed Wallace. No one has defended Dwight Howard quite like Rasheed Wallace. Combine Wallace with Kendrick Perkins, who was solid against Howard in the 2009 postseason and Superman has quite a difficult task on Friday night.
The Celtics also added veterans Shelden Williams and Marquis Daniels.
All five Celtics starters are averaging in double figures in scoring – Paul Pierce 18.4, Ray Allen 15.2 Kevin Garnett 13.5 Rajon Rondo 11.9 and Kendrick Perkins 10.5. Rasheed Wallace is just behind the starting five, scoring 9.6 ppg.
Rajon Rondo is still not a great scorer, but he is shooting much better than he has at any point in his career. He’s getting the ball to his scorers and assist percentage is at an all-time high (42.7%). He’s averaging 11.9 ppg, 9.8 apg, 4.2 rpg and 2.8 spg. Excellent all-around numbers from the Rondo.
I loved the way Vince Carter played Wednesday. He was really attacking the basket.
Jason Williams filled in for the injured Jameer Nelson and played well. He did a good job of pushing the ball and really keeping the pace up. That’s going to be a lot more difficult against Celtics Point Guard Rajon Rondo.
The Celtics play better defense than any team in the league so the Magic must match their intensity and bring the same kind of energy that they brought on Wednesday night.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)