For the second time this week the Orlando Magic played the role of streak-breaker, defeating the Boston Celtics 86-78 ending their 14-game winning streak. The win wasn’t easy and it certainly wasn’t pretty, but it was hard-fought and satisfying for a retooled Magic team that is still in the early stages of building chemistry.
“People started to really count us out, and we understand that,” Dwight Howard said. “This is only our fourth game together with this team. The more we play, the better we’re going to get. The game showed how tough this team is going to be once we get everything going. We’re going to remain humble. We’re going to continue to do the things that got us these last two wins.”
Led by the hot shooting of Hedo Turkoglu – who finished the day with 16 points – the Magic jumped out to an early 11-0 lead. For a moment it looked as if the Christmas day game would turn into a blowout, but the Celtics quickly responded and took control of the game, building a 13 point lead.
The Celtics led the game for most of the afternoon.
With Magic All-Star Howard limited by foul trouble and poor shooting hurting Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson, it was Brandon Bass – who led the Magic with 21 points – stepping up to make several big baskets for the Magic, keeping them within striking distance.
Nelson would reward Bass’ efforts with two big three-pointers late in the fourth quarter that gave the Magic the lead and win. Nelson was 1-for-7 before hitting the two big baskets that put the team in the lead; the All-Star guard wouldn’t allow the early misses to stop him from taking the two big shots.
“I’ve been in situations before when I was one of 10 and two of 15, but I’m always going to take those shots when I’m open,’’ said Nelson, who finished with 12 points. “I’m just going to shoot the shots that I know I can make and not get outside of my game.
The Magic are 2-2 since completing the blockbuster traded that brought Gilbert Arenas, Richardson, Earl Clark and Turkoglu to town.
After losing their first two games with the new players, they’ve won back-to-back games against the two teams with the league’s best records, Boston (23-5) and San Antonio (25-4). The performances are giving the Magic an idea of how good they can be once the new players become acclimated to the new system.
“You see what the possibilities are,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “You see that you have a chance to be a really good team. We’re not there yet by any means, but you have a chance to be a very good team. And I think that right there, that belief and that confidence that if we will stay with it, we can be very good.”
“We beat the teams with the top two records in the league, played a very competitive game against the team with the third-best record. I think anybody that would have to play the top three teams in the league in five days, bang, bang, bang, you’d love to get them all. But I think most people would take two out of three, especially the situation we’re in.”
By Jarrod N. Rudolph
