MAGIC TOPPLE CELTICS IN SERIES OPENER

The Orlando Magic dug themselves a hole in their opening round series against Philadelphia due to an inability to protect big leads.  They almost did it again on Monday night as they opened their second round series at the TD BankNorth Garden against the Boston Celtics.  Up by 28 early in the third quarter, the Magic watched the Celtics close to within three before J.J. Redick’s free throws put the game away in the final seconds earning Orlando a 95-90 decision and a 1-0 series lead.

Five Magic players scored in double figures, led by Rashard Lewis with 18 and reserve guard Mickael Pietrus with 17.  Dwight Howard posted another monster ‘double/double’, pulling down 22 rebounds to go with his 16 points.  Hedo Turkoglu scored 15 and J.J. Redick 12—including going 4-4 on the crucial last second free throws that saved the victory for Orlando. 

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 23 points, while Rajon Rondo contributed a ‘double/double’ with 14 points and 10 assists.  Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis added 12 points and reserve Brian Scalabrine scored 10.  Center Kendrick Perkins was also a factor scoring only 6 points but grabbing 16 rebounds and blocking 3 shots.  In his postgame comments, leading scorer Pierce underscored the obvious:

"We can't wait until we're down 25, 26 points until we wake up. There's no excuses for us not to be ready."

Added ‘Big Baby’ Glen Davis:

"If we had played the rest of the game like the second half ... It's hard to play from behind. That's what we did and we lost."

Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy deftly attempted to blast his team for blowing the big lead, while maintaining a positive view on the ‘big picture’:

"The last 16 minutes was a debacle. We were sort of trying to run out the clock, and you can't do that in games like this. Especially in the playoffs, teams are going to keep fighting and keep coming back. But how about the fact that we were up 28? You play these games to win, and that's it. We won. Right now, the series is 1-0."

Not that Van Gundy was telling his team anything they didn’t already know, as evidenced by Dwight Howard’s postgame remarks:

"We got complacent as a team, stopped doing what we did to get the lead and against a good Celtics team you can't do that. You don't want to focus on them coming back. We still won the game and we saw what we have to do to win the series."

While the Magic salvaged the win, they missed an opportunity to demoralize the defending NBA champions who are already without the services of Kevin Garnett.  Instead, they demonstrated to Boston that even without their full complement of superstars that they can compete and win in this series.