He has done it before. He did it again today.
Hedo Turkoglu hit a long and well guarded 3 pt shot as time ran out, to give the Orlando Magic their 2nd straight win at home against the league leading Celtics. Hedo is having a career year and led the Magic with 27 points on 8 for 18 shooting, 3-7 from downtown, to go with 6 rebounds, and a block.
Paul Pierce gave Hedo very little room and Perkins came up to cut off a drive, forcing Hedo to take the three when two points would have been sufficient. The game was tied at 93, after Ray Allen had connected from the corner for a three, on a pass from Paul Pierce after he drove the lane. Rondo had just made a huge steal, his 6th of the game, on a Carlos Arroyo pass attempt at the other end to get Pierce the ball.
It was a toughly fought game with big runs by both teams. Kevin Garnett was kept out of this game by Doc Rivers, to be cautious about KG’s abdominal strain. Rajon Rondo had gone down with an ankle twist in the 3rd quarter as well. Rajon came back in taped up to make some huge plays down the stretch. Garnett was so upset at not playing he did not come out of the locker room and sit on the bench to cheer his mates on.
Brian Scalabrine got the start in his place. Kendrick Perkins, who was expected to play a bigger role with Garnett out, drew 2 fouls by the 8:50 mark and (generously listed) 6′ 8″ Leon Powe had to come to play against the league’s most dominant center, Dwight Howard.
After being down 13-9, Boston went on a 14-4 run when Howard when out.
By the time the first quarter ended, Powe had 6 rebounds and 6 points, second only to Paul Pierce’s 8. Dwight Howard also had 6 and 6, but was replaced by Adonal Foyle with 5:52 left in the quarter, starting the Celtics on their run.
Well traveled 6′ 5″ Maurice Evans (5 teams in 6 NBA seasons), acquired in the trade of Trevor Ariza to the Lakers along with Brian Cook got the start at shooting guard today. He played 36 minutes, scoring 11 points on 5-8 shooting. Brian Cook had a flurry of his own in the 3rd quarter, with 11 points in a little over 3 minutes (he played 9 minutes), including 3 of 4 from the three point line. That boosted a 5 point Magic lead to 12 at 65-53.
Turkoglu and Howard each added 2 foul shots to grow the lead to 16, before Posey answered with eight points in less than 2 minutes, getting the Cs to within 11 points.
Orlando, another of the top three point shooting teams in the league, made 9 of 25 from beyond the line. Boston was 7-18 with James Posey leading the way with 4 of 6. Posey finished with his 2nd best offensive showing of the year with 16 points in 26 minutes. He added 6 boards as well.
Leon Powe finished with 9 points and 9 boards (6 offensive), in 26 productive minutes.
Rondo had 15 points on 6-16 shooting to go with 5 boards, 5 assists and all those steals. He did have 3 TOs and got blocked 3 times. Rondo led the Cs with a plus/minus of +11. He contained Carlos Arroyo all night as Arroyo finished with 2 points, 4 assists and 6 TOs in 31 minutes.
Play of the Game
Rajon Rondo drove against Dwight Howard and used a double change of direction move and lay-up in the paint against Dwight Howard to get the Cs within three with 43 seconds left. School yard quality…and it worked.
Brian Scalabrine scored one point and had 1 rebound in 21 minutes. Ray Allen finished with 17 points on 7-18 shooting, 3 of 8 from beyond the line, after starting off 2 of 8. Tony Allen and Eddie House had totally unremarkable games, with House missing on most of his shots (1-5).
The Celtics made their move in the 4th, ripping off 11 straight points to take a 79-78 lead on a Rondo assisted, Ray Allen three point shot. The Magic responded with a run of their own, going back up 8 at 89-81, before the Celtics tied it at 93 with the Ray Allen three with a defender in his face.
Paul Pierce had 19 first half points to get the Celtics started and finished with 24, 9 rebounds and 4 assists including that big one to Ray for the three. He had 3 steals and 3 TOs, while playing decent defense most of the time, even though Turkoglu garnered 27.
Dwight Howard finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Rashard Lewis had 15 points, 6 boards and by far the worse plus-minus on the Magic at -14.
It is notable that Pierce is no longer looking for isolation and his own shot at the end of games. He drove, drew the defense, and passed for the second time in a row, I believe. The Celtics created 20 Magic turnovers to only 11 of their own, helping to keep them in the game without their acknowledged leader, Kevin Garnett.
Leon Powe acquitted himself well in a tough game against an intimidating player. Notable by his absence was Glen Davis. Injured?
The Celtics are having their toughest time against the Southeast Division, with 2 losses each to Orlando and Washington and one to Charlotte. The Celtics are now 5-5 over their last 10, the same as Detroit. Maybe they both played themselves out against each other.
Boston next plays at Miami on Tuesday.
