| 17 May 2010
(Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)
Boston Celtics 92, Orlando Magic 88
Game One was all kinds of ugly.
There’s no denying that and I’m not sure you can take a whole lot from what we saw throughout most of this game. The Celtics and Magic both played a horribly sloppy game. They combined for 21 turnovers in the first half alone. Paul Pierce looked like he was shaving points and Dwight Howard looked like he was shaving points with a Schick Quattro.
The Celtics dominated the majority of this game while only pulling away for a short period of time when they were up 20. And yet, Orlando still came back and made this a game. The key to figuring out how much of this Game One matters outside of the final score is trying to figure out how much stock we should take out of the Orlando fourth quarter run.
From the 5:33 mark in the fourth until there were just 12 seconds left in the game, the Orlando Magic kept the Boston Celtics from scoring a single point. This helped them turn a 13-point deficit into just a three-point Celtics lead with just 26 seconds remaining. By using Synergy Sports (seriously, go spend the $30!), I went back and watched this final run by Orlando to turn an embarrassing first game of the series loss into a disappointing first game of the series loss that has everybody a little paranoid.
The key to the run had very little to do with offense and everything to do with challenging shots and forcing turnovers. The Celtics turned the ball over three times during this run. One of them came from Paul Pierce throwing a lazy post-entry pass and the other two coming from JJ Redick stepping up and making defensive plays. Redick drew a charge from Rajon Rondo on a fastbreak layup attempt and then held his ground against Ray Allen during another transition opportunity as Allen dribbled the ball off of JJ’s foot. All of a sudden, the Magic were being the aggressors on defense instead of just hoping for the Celtics to miss.
As for challenging shots, this is THE MOST important reason Orlando nearly came back in this game. After Ray Allen hit a huge three to point the Celtics up 13 with less than half a quarter to go, Orlando did a fantastic job of trying to dictate what the Boston offense would do the rest of the game. It started with running the shot clock down and contesting a KG jumper off the dribble. Then Dwight Howard blocked a couple of layup attempts around a Ray Allen three-point attempt that JJ Redick challenged perfectly after coming around some screens.
When Orlando was getting killed in this game, it was because they just allowed the Celtics to execute and dictate whatever they wanted on offense. It took Orlando a desperation defensive stand to realize what they need to do in this game. Now, they have to carry that momentum into the next game while wiping away the disappointment and pressure of losing Game One on your home court.
Why The Celtics Won This Game
Ray Allen is just effing good. I wrote about this in the Daily Dime for Monday (you’re damn right I’m dropping a reference to something I participated in on ESPN.com) but Ray Allen’s aggressiveness in driving the ball into the paint helped make Orlando have to worry about everybody from all over the floor. The thing about Ray Ray is he just expects to hit the big shots and there’s not a lot you can do about it. He finished with a game-high 25 points and iced the game with two big free throws. You should have had no doubt that he was going to make those either. He walked away after calmly knocking down the second one with a big grin on his face.
Why The Magic Lost This Game
Not only was Dwight Howard rendered almost completely useless on offense thanks to the defense of Kendrick Perkins but Rashard Lewis led the bombardment of missed Orlando threes by going 0/6 in the game. Overall, the Magic shot just 5/22 from long range because the Celtics never had to double consistently on Dwight. They were able to stay home on shooters and contest the majority of the three-point attempts Orlando forced up. When their post-ups and pick-and-roll sets don’t result in good looks from three, Orlando gets pretty lost on offense.
Heading Into Game Two
One nice thing about these two teams is you got to see a lot of actual basketball in which plays were executed more often than you saw a bunch of isolation crap. The Celtics and Magic decided to try be creative in the way they scored their points. Total, this game saw just 21 combined shot attempts from isolation sets by these two teams, which gets me even more excited for Game Two. Expect the Magic to make adjustments to free up their shooters and to get Dwight more active in finding space around the basket. They won’t do this by just praying they fall into these things. They’ll run plays to make this happen.
Prediction: Magic even up the series
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