Boston Celtics:92 Orlando Magic:88 Boston Leads 1-0 Next Game Tuesday 5/18/10 ORLANDO, Fla.(AP) The Orlando Magic finally met their match in the playoffs. Ray Allen scored 25 points, Paul Pierce had 22 and the Boston Celtics used smothering defense to beat the Magic 92-88 on Sunday in the Eastern Conference finals opener. Rasheed Wallace added 13 points as the Celtics built a 20-point lead, then held on late to snap Orlando’s 14-game winning streak. Vince Carter had 23 points and Jameer Nelson finished with 20 for Orlando, which cut the lead to two in the final seconds but simply ran out of time, looking rusty after a six-day layoff. Dwight Howard was limited to 13 points and 12 rebounds, nowhere near the dominant force the Magic need to win a title. Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night in Orlando.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Boston Celtics:92 Orlando Magic:88 Boston Leads 1-0 Next Game Tuesday 5/18/10 ORLANDO, Fla.(AP) The Orlando Magic finally met their match in the playoffs. Ray Allen scored 25 points, Paul Pierce had 22 and the Boston Celtics used smothering defense to beat the Magic 92-88 on Sunday in the Eastern Conference finals opener. Rasheed Wallace added 13 points as the Celtics built a 20-point lead, then held on late to snap Orlando’s 14-game winning streak. Vince Carter had 23 points and Jameer Nelson finished with 20 for Orlando, which cut the lead to two in the final seconds but simply ran out of time, looking rusty after a six-day layoff. Dwight Howard was limited to 13 points and 12 rebounds, nowhere near the dominant force the Magic need to win a title. Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night in Orlando.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Magic:113 Celtics:92 Series Celtics Lead 3-2. ORLANDO (NBA.com exclusive) — It was a brutal night for Boston’s big guys in the Celtics’ 113-92 loss to the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. Starting center Kendrick Perkins was ejected in the first half, forward Glen Davis suffered a concussion in the second half and Rasheed Wallace fouled out with 4:49 left in the game. Wallace also “tweaked his back,” according to Boston coach Doc Rivers. Jameer Nelson scored a game-high 24 points for the Magic and led their first successful 3-point parade of the series. Dwight Howard added 21 points, 10 rebounds and another dominating defensive effort that included five blocks. “At this point we believe we can win the series,” Nelson said. “We have to stay humble and keep focused and remember how we won these last two games. I believe they have pressure on them right now, but they have veteran players with Hall of Famers and a great coach.” The Celtics still lead the series, three games to two. Game 6 will be played Friday night in Boston, where the Magic have won four of their last five, including Monday night’s overtime victory. “We need to win one game, and let’s hope it’s the next one,” Rivers said. “If it takes coming back here, we’ll be ready for that, too. But we’d like to do the next one.” If they don’t win either game, the Celtics will become the first team in NBA history to lose a playoff series after winning the first three games. It is questionable …

Celtics:94 Magic:71 Series Celtics Lead 3-0. If that word’s meaning resembles that of “complete and total annihilation”, you’re on the right track. There are just too many things that the Boston Celtics did better than the Orlando Magic to single out technical reasons for their 94-71 Game 3 victory. They shot better, helped on defense better, found the open man better and just about anything else you can think of. But above all, the reason the Celtics are now four quarters away from returning to the NBA Finals is simple: they fought harder. Sure, it’s a sports clich to say that one team just wanted it more — and really, both teams “wanted” to win — but the Celtics showed it, and everyone saw it. “Our heart, it seemed like it wasn’t into it,” Dwight Howard said. “They played harder and wanted it,” Matt Barnes said. “I just didn’t think we stayed with the fight very well at all,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. You don’t hold an opponent to 74.6 points per 100 possessions through three quarters without battling, nor do you get the opponent’s coach talking about keeping his team from escaping if you aren’t breathing fire. But the most talked-about sequence of the game, one single first-half possession, encapsulated everything. With 8:37 to play in the second quarter, with the Celtics already out to a 17-point lead, JJ Redick threw an errant pass to Mickael Pietrus that was deflected far into the backcourt. Chasing was Jason Williams, who loped after the ball, either …
Video Rating: 5 / 5