If the Boston Celtics meet up with the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference playoffs they should bench Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen, seems to work for them.
For the second time in less then 10 days the Celtics have been able to make the Magic look like a junior varsity team.
Paul Pierce led a depleted Celtics team to a stunning 91-83 win with 24 points and 10 assists.
“Everybody was big,” Pierce said. “Obviously, when you got a rookie (Moore) who hasn’t played too much to come in and do the things he did — that’s big for us.”
Orlando lead 58-37 at half time pushing the lead to 27 at one point. However the Celtics out scored the Magic 27-17 in the third period and opened the fourth on a 15-1 run.
“That was a character builder for our team, it really was,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s all that we talked about at halftime. Not a big game plan, we didn’t make any big changes. We just kept talking about it being a character builder for this basketball team.”
Due to the lack of personnel Doc Rivers matched veteran Kevin Garnett with Dwight Howard. This move forced Howard away from the basket to defend KG, getting Howard in foul trouble.
Dwight led the Magic with 16 points and 16 rebounds, Jason Richardon added 13 followed by Ryan Anderson’s 12 all coming in the first quarter.
Frustration set in for Orlando in the second half. Both Anderson and Howard would pick up technical fouls.
“Their pressure, again, really pushed us sideways,” Magic head coach, Stan Van Gundy said. “We got frustrated with the officials and we got totally off our game.”
The Magic (12-6) will play in New Orleans tonight against the new look Hornets, tip off set for 8pm.
