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Wed, May 13th 2009, 00:39
CELTICS RALLY TO BEAT MAGIC IN GAME 5
BOSTON – If Glen Davis’ buzzer-beating shot on Sunday hurt the Orlando Magic, then Tuesday’s loss to the Boston Celtics truly frustrated the Magic.
The Magic were a shot away from being up 3-1 on Sunday when Davis drilled a jumper from the wing. And in Game 5, the Magic were 5 ½ minutes away from potentially seizing a 3-2 advantage in the series.
The Magic not only squandered a 14-point fourth-quarter lead, but they also lost a 10-point spread in the final 5 ½ minutes when they missed seven consecutive shots and got outscored 17-3. The Magic’s collapse allowed Boston to escape with a 92-88 come-from-behind victory that put the defending champs up 3-2 in the series.
Frustration followed from the Magic after the particularly dispiriting loss that seemed like a sure victory most of the night.
``We tried to play stall ball and you just can’t do that with a 24-second shot clock,’’ Magic shooting guard J.J. Redick said. ``It was more us kind of wanting to clock the game instead of going in and taking the game. We got stagnant and paid for it.’’
Indeed, the Magic paid dearly for a horrid stretch of basketball that will be difficult to forget anytime soon.
There were the three consecutive shots that failed to even hit the rim – one an open 3-pointer from Rashard Lewis and off-balanced drives by Hedo Turkoglu and Rafer Alston. The Magic failed to get the ball to center Dwight Howard, who had just two offensive touches in the fourth quarter. And the Magic were unable to come up with a key rebound down the stretch, allowing the Celtics to milk the clock after grabbing their first lead since the first quarter.
``At the end of the game, collectively those guys wanted it more than we did and that’s how it got cut back from a big lead,’’ Howard said. ``As a team we have to stop hanging our heads and stop getting frustrated when things don’t go our way. Everybody on our team is falling into that category and we tend to get frustrated. If we want to win this series we can’t do that.’’
Game 6 is Thursday in Orlando. The Magic must win that game to even the series and force a Game 7 back in Boston on Sunday. Despite the past two devastating losses the Magic remain confident they can rebound.
``With the exception of Game 2, we’ve had long stretches where we have played well,’’ J.J. said. ``We want to do those things and play well on Thursday. In this game, though, we played a great game for 40 minutes.’’
J.J. had a deep 3-pointer in the second quarter as the Magic were taking a double-digit lead. He finished with three rebounds and three more assists to go with his three points. Redick ranks fourth on the Magic in assists in the series with 13.
Boston star guard Ray Allen, who has struggled to get off shots against J.J. in the series, buried a clutch 3-pointer with 1:20 to play to put the Celtics up 86-85. J.J. was screened by Davis on the play and still got a contest on Allen, who still hit the shot.
``He missed a couple of threes coming off the other way, left-to-right,’’ J.J. said. ``I know he prefers to come off that way, but when I got the back screen from Big Baby I wanted to push (Allen) to the other side. I played it right, but they set a great screen so I was a half-step behind, but I got a good contest. As Ray has done countless times, he hit another great shot.’’