| 25 March 2009
Boston Celtics (54-18) at Orlando Magic (52-18) 5:00 p.m. PST ESPN
I am simply amazed at how good a night of basketball we have ahead of us. Almost every game features a team already in the playoffs or making a push to get there. Division leaders are facing off. Big stars are matching up against teams that are moving up in the standings. Players are getting healthy right at the best time. This is a night to behold, and I'd just like to flip a big bird to the creators of Lost for getting me so invested in the show that I wouldn't dare miss it even on a night of basketball that should be so good.
The absolute marquee match-up of the night will be the early game featured on ESPN. The Celtics are visiting Orlando for the final match-up of the season between these two clubs. The Celtics won the first two meetings handily but lost the last game on March 8th when they were forced to play without Kevin Garnett. They should have him tonight in very limited minutes, and his presence alone may prove to be the difference in a very even contest. The Celtics will bring a four-game winning streak into Amway Arena and look to take the season series for the first time in four seasons.
The Magic meanwhile are only a game behind Boston for second place in the East and will be looking to take possession of the two seed and homecourt advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs. They have won three in a row and have locked in offensively. They have scored 105 points or more in 8 of their last 11 games, and they are doing it on the shoulders of their entire roster. Of course Dwight Howard is their main weapon, but the Magic have really done an excellent job getting guys like Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and even Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston more involved offensively.
I'd love this game even more if everyone were healthy and could go full strength, but this game is still intriguing and could have huge playoff implications.
Key Match-Up: Kendrick Perkins versus Dwight Howard
There is a certain person on this site who believes that Kendrick Perkins is as good a defender as Dwight Howard. We'll just refer to him as Zach H. Now I love Perkins' defense and think that he is a very good player. He is a very good on-ball defender that grabs boards and bruises players that get to the paint, but he just doesn't intimidate like Mr. Howard. Howard anchors that defense and makes bad defenders like Turkoglu and Lewis look just a little bit better. Perkins is surrounded by great defenders that make his job just a little easier. We'll see who gets the upper-hand in tonight's match-up.
Prediction: The Magic pull even with the Celtics in the standings.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
