Celtics Defense Shuts Down Magic
The Orlando Magic played an excellent game defensively but had no answer for a dominating Boston defense. The Celtics won an ugly, sloppy game, 86-77.
It was clear from the start that was going to be a rough night offensively for both teams. The Magic led 19-18 at the end of the first quarter and neither team scored in the period’s final two minutes. The second quarter was awful for the Magic. After starting the quarter on a 6-2 run, the Magic scored just two more points the half’s final 7:52. Boston ended the quarter on an 18-2 run and had a 38-27 lead at halftime. Orlando, which came in as the league’s sixth most efficient offense, was dominated in the first half.
Orlando was able to score some points in the second half. After seeing Boston’s lead balloon to 14 at the 49-35, Orlando cut the lead to 61-53 at the end of the period. Rashard Lewis finally got going in the game’s final quarter and got Orlando back into the game. Vince Carter’s driving layup with 7:11 to go got the Magic within six and seemingly gave them the momentum and got the crowd back into the game, but Rajon Rondo and Tony Allen hit back to back baskets to push the lead back to 10. During this span, Orlando had five shots at the basket, four coming within five feet and couldn’t capitalize, missing all five. The Magic went on an 8-2 run to the cut the lead to 4. After Kevin Garnett made two free throws, Orlando got the lead down to three on Rashard Lewis’ 3-pointer, but Boston scored the next six points, closing the game out. The Magic had their chances in the final quarter but couldn’t take advantage.
The Magic had a tough time getting the ball into Dwight Howard. And when they actually did get the ball to him, he was ineffective. Rasheed Wallace and Kendrick Perkins dominated Howard defensively. Howard finished with just five points on 1-of-7 shooting turned the ball over a season-high seven times. When Dwight Howard has more turnovers than he does points, it’s obvious that the Magic are in trouble. To be fair, Howard did play well defensively. He didn’t do as good of a job protecting the paint as he has over the past few games, but he did block four shots and grab 20 rebounds.
Orlando’s bench had their worst game of the season. Outside of two big fourth quarter baskets and five rebounds by Matt Barnes, the bench did nothing. Barnes finished with five points and five rebounds, but was still just 2-of-8 from the field. Ryan Anderson was the only other Magic bench player to score, finishing with four points and two rebounds.
Outside of Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter, not Magic played had a good game offensively. And Lewis was just 5-of-14 from the field (19 points).
The lone bright spot offensively for the Magic was the play of Carter. Carter shot 10-of-20 from the field and finished with a game-high 27 points. Carter did an excellent job of getting to the basket, attempting eight shots at the rim and hitting five. He also got to the free throw line and went 6-of-7 from the stripe. Carter also grabbed five rebounds and turned the ball over just twice.
If you look at the four factors above, it’s easy to see why the Celtics won the game.
The Magic, who are one of the best shooting teams in terms of effective field goal percentage in the NBA, shot just 36.5%. The Magic turned the ball over 18 times, showing that they still haven’t corrected that problem.
The Magic were awful from downtown, shooting 19.2% (5-of-26). Luckily, Orlando was excellent from the charity stripe (20-of-24) and it prevented them from getting blown out.
Orlando was outrebounded 48-43 and Boston outworked the Magic for several of those rebounds. It seemed like every loose ball went Boston’s way and it wasn’t all luck – they worked for it.
Orlando actually played one of their best defensive games of the season. They held Boston to just 42.5% shooting and allowed them to make just four 3-pointers. They also forced 20 Boston turnovers but it wasn’t enough to get a win against Boston’s stifling defense.
Game Notes:
- Jason Williams recorded to just one assist and one rebound. He was 0-of-3 from the field.
- Boston had no player score more than 18 points but had five players in double figures.
- On the other hand, Orlando had the game’s top two scorers (Carter, Lewis) but had no other player in double figures.
- Tony Allen did a good job replacing Paul Pierce. He played just 22 minutes, but finished with 16 points and 4 rebounds on 6-of-11 shooting.
- Glen “Big Baby” Davis was activated. He played just four minutes and failed to score.
- Boston had 44 points in the paint while Orlando managed just 32.
- Despite turning the ball over 20 times, Boston would not let Orlando run. The Magic had just five fast break points (Boston had 15).
Next Up: The Magic end their home stand on Wednesday, December 30 against Brandon Jennings and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Final Thought: The Celtics won an ugly game without Paul Pierce. Orlando’s defense continues to improve, but outside of Vince Carter, no one was very efficient on offense.
(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.)