The Orlando Magic raced out to a 16-point first quarter lead but scored the game’s final 5 points and won the game 83-78.
It was a sloppy game on both sides. Especially for the Magic. They were on fire in the first quarter, led by Mickael Pietrus’ three 3-pointers. The Magic made five 3-pointers in the quarter and if not for a Mickael Pietrus travel, it would have been six. The Magic had a 29-13 lead at the end of the period.
Things really turned around in the second quarter. Boston scored the first seven points of the period and got right back into the game. Orlando made just four field goals and scored 14 points while the Celtics scored 27 points, cutting the lead to just 43-40 at halftime.
Orlando’s defense tightened back up in the second half, holding the Celtics to just 38 second half points, 19 in each quarter.
The Magic entered the fourth quarter with a 7-point lead, but struggled in the final quarter, only scoring 17 points. Down by 5, Kevin Garnet and Paul Piece made back-to-back buckets to cut the lead to 75-74. That’s when Orlando turned back to Carter. He hit a jumper, was fouled by Ray Allen, and converted the 3-point play. Orlando made a few key stops, but had silly turnovers and fouls that led to consecutive baskets by Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace to tie the game. Orlando went back to Carter, who made a beautiful move and hit a jumper. Orlando got two more key stops and made their free throws to end the game.
The Magic did not play very well on offense, but keep in mind they were playing the league’s most efficient defense. They shot the ball poorly from the field, going 29-of-70 (41.4%), but made up for it by hitting 10 of their 22 free throw attempts for an eFG of 48.5%. Offensively, it was 3-point shooting that won the game for Orlando. Boston was just 2-of-19 (10.5%) from downtown.
Orlando’s offensive woes were a direct result of the careless play on offense. They committed 19 turnovers and most of them could have been easily avoided. The Magic went through a stretch in the fourth quarter where it seemed like every other pass they threw wound up a steal for Boston. Fortunately, the Magic took good care of the ball in the last 2 minutes off the game.
Another negative to take from this game was the free throw shooting. Boston made one more free throw than the Magic, but attempted seven less. While Boston went 16-of-18 from the line (88.9%), the Magic were just 15-of-26 (57.7%). Dwight Howard (5-of-11), Jason Williams (2-of-4) and Mickael Pietrus (0-of-2) were guilty of poor free throw shooting.
On defense, it was a different story for the Magic. They showed good effort and intensity on that side of the floor. They held the Celtics to just 34.5% shooting from the floor (30-of-87). They really go after it, challenging most of Boston’s shots. You can’t really single one player out either. It was a complete team defensive effort. That is something Magic fans should be very happy to see.
The player of the game was Vince Carter. For several reasons. He took several bad shots and wound up shooting just 34.5% from the field on 29 field goal attempts (10-of-29). He was 2-of-7 from downtown and at one point took an extremely deep three that barely hit the front of the rim. He was, at times, out of control and wound up with six turnovers. He had some trouble defending Paul Pierce in the second half. He still isn’t driving the ball to the basket enough.
Don’t worry, there was good too. Carter did a good job of spreading the ball around. He finished tied for the team-high with 6 assists. Carter also hit the boards, grabbing 6 rebounds. He hustled to the ball.
You know what I liked best about Carter?
His fourth quarter. Sure, he committed some turnovers. And sure, he took some ill-advised shots, but, he wanted the ball. Carter wanted to be the man to take the big shot. And unlike Orlando’s other big-game shooters, he can create the shot for himself. This was proven when Carter hit an 8-foot jumper in while being fouled (he completed the 3-point play) to extend Orlando’s lead to four with 4:33 to go. He later backed in and hit a turnaround jumper to break a 78-78 tie with 2:32 to go.
Dwight Howard struggled again. And this time, he stayed out of foul trouble. Matched up with Kendrick Perkins and Rasheed Wallace, Howard managed just 4 field goal attempts. Boston did a very good job of fouling Howard before he was able to get much of a shot up and Howard couldn’t take advantage. He was just 5-of-11 from the charity stripe (45.4%). Howard finished with just 9 points. He did make up for this in a couple of different ways. Howard defended the rim extremely well, keeping the Celtics guards away from the basket. Howard finished the game with 3 blocks. Dwight really crashed the boards on Friday. On a night where Orlando was out-rebounded and has trouble chasing down any boards, Howard did his job on the glass. He finished with a game-high 15 rebounds, the most he has had since the second game of the season back on October 30.
Jason Williams managed the game very well. He recorded the highest +/- on the team at +19. He kept the pace up in the first quarter when the Magic stormed out to a 16-point lead and managed the game very well. He had just 2 turnovers and dished out 6 assists. Williams still isn’t shooting well (7 points on 2-of-7 shooting), but he is doing his job.
Orlando’s other Point Guard was not-so-good. Anthony Johnson failed to score on 0-of-3 shooting. He did dish out 3 assists but also had 3 turnovers. The positive of his game Friday were his 4 rebounds. Johnson record Orlando’s lowest +/- at -13 in just 14 minutes.
Mickael Pietrus was the star of the first quarter. Pietrus was 3-of-3 from downtown and scored 11 points in the opening quarter (he would have had 14, but he was called for traveling just before hitting his last second 3-pointer). Pietrus again played solid defense against a superstar, this time Paul Pierce). Pietrus got into foul trouble and only managed to score 3 points the rest of the way.
Rashard Lewis was solid, but he needs more shots. He took just 11 shots, hitting 5. Still, like Wednesday, Lewis found other ways to get the job done. He rebounded. He hustled to loose balls. He picked up his second consecutive double-double, finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Orlando’s bench was not nearly as good tonight. They combined to score just 11 points and two players – J.J. Redick (who played just one minute) and Anthony Johnson – failed to score. Ryan Anderson was solid in his 15 minutes. He was just 1-of-2 from downtown and 2-of-5 overall from the field but he once again put the ball on the floor. He made a couple of nice passes and finished with 5 points, 2 assists and 1 rebound.
Paul Piece led the Celtics with 21 points, but like most of his teammates, he did not shoot the ball well, going just 7-of-19 from the field. Ray Allen, who really struggled in the playoff series between these two teams last season, shot 50% from the field but only attempted 10 field goals. Rasheed Wallace was just 4-of-16 from the field and missed all eight of his 3-point attempts. Rasheed, however, was a force on the glass, collecting 12 rebounds. Rajon Rondo (6 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds) played just 29 minutes and was pretty ineffective, shooting 3-of-11 from the field. Kevin Garnett was effective. He only scored 13 points, but he played excellent defense and grabbed 11 rebounds while blocking 3 shots.
Game Notes:
- Brandon Bass received a DNP-Coach’s Decision. He didn’t enter Wednesday’s game until the fourth quarter.
- Boston out-rebounded Orlando 43-42.
- Matt Barnes checked in during the first quarter after not appearing in Wednesday night’s game until the fourth quarter.
- Orlando had just 5 fastbreak points to Boston’s 17.
- The Magic have won four games in a row.
- Boston lost for the third time in four games.
Final Thought: The Magic made many dumb mistakes and took several ill-advised shots but grinded out a win on the road over one of the NBA’s elite teams.
Next Up: The Magic travel to Toronto to take on Hedo Turkoglu and the Toronto Raptors in a matinee Sunday at 12:30.
(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.)