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Orlando Magic, in a cheerier mood, finish off Boston Celtics
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| Categories: Recaps With Stan Van Gundy in a happy mood — waving his pom-poms instead of standing on his soapbox — the Orlando Magic held on for an 83-78 win over the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
It was, in some ways, a win reminiscent of the Magic team we all pictured coming into the year — inspired defense by Dwight Howard, timely scoring by Vince Carter (even if it took him 113 shots to do it), efficient production from Rashard Lewis and the best game Mickael Pietrus has played since the summer.
The Magic jumped out to a 29-13 lead, something that has become a habit against the Celtics in games the Magic win, and were able to withstand a furious Celtics comeback that culminated by them tying the game at 78-78 with 2:54 to play.
The Celtics didn’t score again, though, and Vince Carter put the Magic ahead for good with a contested mid-range fadeaway, the ultimate shot that makes you yell “No!” before it goes in.
After Carter’s go-ahead jumper, the Magic didn’t score on their next two possessions. But with tenacity and focus on the defensive end, the Magic stopped the Celtics on their final five possessions and preserved the victory on the strength of their — yes, finally — defense.
No wonder Stan Van Gundy’s so happy.
1. Dwight Howard scored only 9 points, but he made his presence felt on the defensive end. Not unexpectedly, Howard had trouble scoring against two premier Dwight stoppers, Kendrick Perkins and Rasheed Wallace. Howard went 2-for-4 from the field for just nine points, his worst per-minute scoring output of the season. But don’t let that distract you from the otherwise marvelous game Howard put together. He controlled the boards (15 rebounds), blocked shots (3 blocks), and didn’t get into foul trouble. The Celtics shied away from entering the basket-zone with Howard in the game, and it shows in the following breakdown, courtesy of ESPN Stats and Information.
| Howard in the game | Howard out of the game | |
|---|---|---|
| FG% | 20-67 (29.8%) | 10-20 (50%) |
| FG% in paint | 13-33 (39.4%) | 6-9 (66.7%) |
| Points in paint | 26 | 12 |
| Net points | Magic by 14 | Boston by 9 |
2. Vince Carter carried the team to a victory, but he was certainly inefficient. Carter scored a game-high 26 points and hit the game-winning shot, and that can’t be ignored in a game of this magnitude. But overall, Carter used 37 possessions (29 shots, four free-throws, six turnovers) to score 26 points, a ratio that Zach Randolph wouldn’t even be proud of. With the way Howard couldn’t sniff the basket, and with Jameer Nelson missing with a knee injury, a lot of responsibility fell on Carter to handle the scoring load — and he did just that, firing from anywhere and everywhere, often early in the shot clock. His shot chart looks like that of an entire team:
3. The Magic held the Celtics to an offensive rating of 83.8; they came into the game with a rating of 107.2. Certainly, in addition to Howard, you must credit every player of the Magic with working on defense and constantly being where they need to be. Their rotations were perfect and their on-ball defense was suffocating as a team, as it seemed the Celtics had an incredible amount of difficulty getting to the rim.
What to like
Finally, the Magic have a win they can hang their hat on. It’s been a pretty tumultuous first 13 games for a 10-3 team — even with all the stuff Orlando’s been through, they still have the NBA’s second-best record. Part of that can be attributed to a fairly easy schedule, and part of that can be attributed to a resiliency that this team formed over the second half of last season.
Jason Williams played another solid game in the absence of Jameer Nelson, posting seven points, six assists, four steals and two turnovers in 33 minutes. He knows his role so well, staying out of the way and getting the ball to Orlando’s playmakers.
The same kudos go to Pietrus, who went 4-for-4 from three-point range. We’ve been waiting for Pietrus to wake up from his offensive slumber all season long, and he finally did tonight.
What not to like
Really, you can’t say a bad word about any players specifically. But looking at the game closely, the Magic were up by 16 points early in the game and had a chance to put it away. Granted, you’re not going to run the Celtics off their own court, but you’d like the Magic to keep the Celtics from tying it up late in the game.
Magic number: The Celtics shot 10.5 percent from three-point range on Wednesday night, compared to 37.5 percent during the first 12 games.
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11 comments, 6 trackbacks
Tell me if the magic were to waive anthony johnson what team would pick him up?
Nobody, We need to release him and sign Antonio Daniels to the 2nd guard spot. That way if J will or Jameer get hurt again in the season we wont have to watch the horrible play of Anthony Johnson.
At the moment, he isn't even playing.
I think AI is worth a shout too, once he realize that no contender is going to guarantee him a starting spot, he'll sign and play his part and probably get a ring.
We need another PG with Jameer out, Johnson wont cut it, he is too slow and seems to have lost his confidence.
And don't get me wrong, I LOVE Brandon Bass as a player and I think he's a very good PF, but he just seems lost when he plays the scheme we play. He's a bruiser, but he doesn't run the floor and jack up 3's like the rest of our PF's. I think he just has to get more in tune with the system, understand what he's doing out of the floor and understand playing defense on certain players and he'll find his way into getting more minutes.
Honestly, I find that a little disturbing. I know J-Will is good, but he's just as much of a role player as AJ is. I don't want to have a backup point that doesn't even care about his minutes. If I were Otis, I'd keep him around just for the sake of "hey, you helped us get to the finals" kind of deal, but that's about it. I'd rather deal with a PG that's TRYING to get on our team than one who didn't try fighting for minutes against a player that had been retired for a year.
As for the Boston game it was nice to see our defense back. I've also noticed the several critics are now on the VC band wagon and no longer saying we should have kept Hedo....Although some still say Boston is the better team, go figure. I think the lack of respect to our team helps them find a motivation...
Another big game tonight and a bigger one turkey day! Good news is that Bibby is down with a sprained ankle so I look for a two game sweep.
See everyone tonight! Go Magic!
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