By Karsceal Turner
In 48 hours the Orlando Magic effectively turned a lop-sided series in which they weren’t a smidget of the team we’ve known and loved, into a series in which they have a chance to truly make history.
At first, it seemed as though Orlando fans would have to endure another meltdown at home. The Magic turned the ball over the first three times they had it and fell behind 5-0. Trust that I was among the folks who screamed WTF? during those opening minutes.
Then it happened, Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis (both of whom have NOT played inspired ball lately), got the Magic going with one 3-pointer apiece. It set the stage for a severe thrashing of the Boston Celtics and Orlando’s biggest offensive game of the series by far.
Dwight Howard had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Magic to a 113-92 victory. The trademark smile gave way to the face of a man who was not ready for his team to go home. So he willed them to a win at home. His inspired plan in turn inspired his teammates. Before it was over, six different Magic sharp-shooters combined to make eight of the Magic’s first 12 3-pointers. For the game they were 13-for-25.
“Put in the work don’t stop believing, don’t stop fighting.” Howard said.
Jameer Nelson scored 24 points, and J.J. Reddick and Rashard Lewis each had 14 to help lead the Magic. Lewis showed some aggressiveness and was popping mid range jumpers, slashing, and posting.
Meanwhile, Matt Barnes was good for nine points and seven boards, Brandon Bass and Mickael Pietrus each chipped in eight and Jason Williams finished with five points and five assists. You ask what Vince did? We’ll get to that.
This is the Orlando Magic team you have come to love. You know, the team which played inspired basketball leading to the best record in the regular season at 59-23 and second in the Eastern Conference. Oh and let us not forget those two sweeps.
The energy was there, the intensity was there, “Vinsanity” was there (kind of), but he still was only a shadow of what we’re used to. He finished with 8 but he did some of the intangible things to get himself and his teammates involved. A pass here, a rebound there, a jumper here, and rebound there. Hey, it ain’t always got to be about scoring…as long as someone else is scoring. Still, Vince was brought in as a closer. He was 1-4 in three-point shooting, three rebounds, and three assists. You have to begin something in order to finish or close it. I’m just saying.
Gimme some get-back
Yep, this game had its share of get-backs: elbows, cross-overs, dunks, hard fouls, grit. Remember that play in Game 3 where Rondo made J-Dub (Jason Williams) look reeeally bad on a gutsy defensive play. Well it sure was great to see some retribution as Williams drove the length of the court through traffic, straight to and through Rondo. The crowd went ballistic.
Once again, I saw that look of fire that makes me want to go to the nearest playground and re-enact glory days of my basketball youth.
The second quarter saw Kendrick Perkins get ejected for drawing his second technical foul of the game. Perkins’ ejection came after his sixth and seventh technicals of the postseason, which under NBA rules merits an automatic one-game suspension, though the league will review the calls and has the authority to rescind either or both of the techs if it sees fit.
Trashing takes on a literal meaning
Earlier when I used the word “thrashing” I meant it literally. Veteran Referee Joey Crawford got a workout as he kept Celtic forward Glenn “Big Baby” Davis from collapsing after an unintentional elbow from Dwight Howard late in the third Quarter. Have you seen Dwight’s arms lately? Davis eventually left the game after a concussion.
In the fourth quarter, Celtics reserve Marquis Daniels left the game after being struck with an elbow. Trust me when I say they will surely be checking the elbow blows in Boston come Friday. Try saying that three times fast. Oh yeah, Rasheed Wallace’s back was tweaked later in the game. Whatever the heck “tweaked” means.
By the way, “Sheed” finished with 21 points, and Rajon Rondo scored 19 for Boston in the losing effort. Paul Pierce was good for 18 and Kevin Garnett had 10. Ray Allen had nine points on 1-3 from three-point land along with seven assists.
Doc Rivers was concerned about Big Baby but more concerned with the Celtics minuses going into Game 6 in Boston. He even joked about Baby being a little delirious. It sure as hell won’t be funny in Boston with a banged up, short-handed team. Ladies and Gents, we’ve got us a series here. It’s not about saving face anymore; it’s about trying to take this thing over. The term I used in my last column was Barn-Burner…I love being correct.
Rivers continued to give the Magic credit, “They were making shots. We couldn’t create any misses. Tough to get an offensive tempo without creating misses. Marquis and Baby blacked out. There were lots of elbows. With the injuries it is what it is. Someone will have to fill in and step up. We need to win one game and let’s hope it’s the next one,” he said.
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was humble when asked repeatedly about his feelings on a comeback from being down 0-3.
“I don’t know if you can say you have momentum when you’re down 3-2 going into their place,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I still look at it like we’re climbing a huge mountain here. But we are playing better.”
A potential Game 7 would be in Orlando. I’m tired of writing it and I sure fans are tired of reading it (except Magic fans) but it is a fact…no NBA team has won a series after losing the first three games.
“I just feel that if we keep believing in each other and trusting one another and playing as hard as we can, anything’s possible,” Howard said.
Jameer Nelson co-signed those comments. “We’ve got our same game plan, be aggressive. We believe, we can do it one game at a time. It takes all of us, our families, our fans, everyone.”
Where the Celtics were concerned, it got to the point where I was asking, who the hell are these guys? We know about Nate Robinson from the fracas while he was in New York and from the dunk contest but he actually got some burn because the Celtics were fast running out of players. Other scrubs who got some playing time because of necessity were: Marquis Daniels, Tony Allen, and an aging Michael Finley, and Oh yeah, Shelden Williams…who the hell is Sheldon Williams?
These are the guys who are usually waving towels and gawking from the sidelines. It really got ugly. The Celtics were pretty beat up. If Perkins is suspended for a Game 6, Davis can’t return because of the injury, Marquis Daniels is still dazed from his concussion along with Rasheen Wallace’s tweaked back, who will Boston have to match up with and hack Dwight Howard to death on Friday?
“Well, it’s not a pleasant thought,” Doc Rivers said.
Think the unthinkable
Unpleasant isn’t even the word Doc. The sleeping giant may be awakened. The Magic seem to be on a roll. Another win in Boston Friday would send the series back to Jamlando for an 8:30 p.m. tip-off on Sunday evening. I’m not looking past the Celtics. But they sure as hell aren’t looking past the Magic anymore either.
