Post Game Thread Celtics take game 1 over Magic 92-88 5/16/2010

[dboss]

The Celtics executed theor game plan to perfection.

They limited Dwight Howard in the post (3-10) 13 points and 12 rebounds and 7 turnovers.

And they closed out the perimeter as the Magic shot 5-22 from behind the arch.

These were the two areas that I thought were needed to beat Orlando.

Despite some late game heroics from Jameer Nelson ( he played a marvelous game) and Vince carter, the Celtics cooly held them at arms length to win the important 1st game on the road and once again flipped the home court advanatge on its head. Ray Allen led the team in scoring with 25 and PP added 22 with 5 assists and 9 rebounds. Wallace again is making a believer out of me as he played physical post defense and knocked down huge shots and free throws.

Tony Allen and Glen Davis also provided support off the bench.

This was the type of game that I expected. The Magic now know that Boston is for real and game 2 becomes a must win for them. I do not know what else the Magic can do to improve. They moved the ball well but boston's rotations did not give them enough time to get off open looks.

And as expected the bigs of Boston just beat up on Howard all game long.

The Magic will need adjustments in game 2. They had some success in the 4th qtr driiving the ball to the hoop but that is not who they are.

The Magic will not win this series unless they can hit a higher percentage of 3 pointers. They are who they are.

Great opening round win for Boston as they continue on their path towards the ultimate prize.

dboss

[Nyce_1]

Sheed did a great job on Dwight. Howard got too frustrated and started forcing the issue. When he gets like that, its downhill for the team. I said TO would be a key factor, and we had PLENTY of them. 18 TO won't cut it against your team.

Jameer played well, and we did a great job containing Rondo. Too bad we forgot about Ray and Pierce, lol.

Protect the ball, be patient, and play with effort. Gonna be a good game 2.

[Sam]

Geez, what kept you, dboss? This must set a record for speediness in posting a post-game thread. Great game. The mystifying factor for me is why VanGundy didn't make a more concerted effort to establish Lewis' offensive game. I know that KG played a good defensive game, but Shard seemed completely missing in action when they needed another offensive weapon. Great defense by the Celts. Glen was my unsung hero for his defense on Dwight and his 5 key points.

Sam

[mrkleen09]

Big game from all. Now if we can get Rondo to STOP WALKING THE BALL UP once we get a lead, we will be in good shape.

-Ray Allen was magnificent and the Captain was on fire in the 3rd quarter
-Perk played solid D
-Baby and TA provided a great spark off the bench.
-Rondo and KG will bounce back in Tuesday, mark it down.

Now, let me talk for a minute about Rasheed Wallace. This is Wallace time - the playoffs and THIS is why we brought the guy in. He had a disappointing regular season - but he is having a fantastic playoffs. He can take any of the Magic big men down low - he is playing good D and fouling HARD when he has to. I have to give him the player of the game tonight, as he totally took Howard out of the game - got in his head - and refuses to be intimidated.

Great game all around...now in game two, lets get the lead and keep the foot on the accelerator - and come home 2-0

[Hoopdeedoo]

Kleen,

+1 on Sheed. Great focus and energy. Great game for the C's. Tuesday will be tough but doable. Go Celtics!.

Hoop

[sinus007]

Hi,
Just one comment: Defense for 3 quarters was a champion level. If only Celtics can keep it up....
Thank you very much. It was a great game.

AK

[bobheckler]

The Magic are now 8-1 in the playoffs and 14-1 going back to the regular season. I appreciate them getting their win streak out of the way before they went against us. If they end up 14-4, that's still pretty impressive. Don't I wish.

1. Does the Master of Disaster HAVE to talk to his players, on and off the court, at a full roar? If I were them, I'd stop listening after a while.

2. Another very solid game by Rasheed. He was a tech magnet with a bald spot for the first 90 games or so and then just decided to show up. We are very lucky he is. Did a great job frustrating Howard. When Howard stops enjoying himself and smiling, his frustration level gets to his head and his game gets all screwed up. Sheed helped to make him stop smiling. I don't know if any of you guys (and Rosalie) have noticed, but Rasheed is really good at pissing people off. :-)

3. Jameer Nelson took the bull by the horns coming out for the 3rd quarter and trimmed a 9 point Celtic halftime lead down to 3 in no time flat. And that, as they say, was that. We withstood their charge and almost (almost!) never looked back. One minute it was Celts by 3 and next thing you know it's Celts by 20. I'm sure every single one of us were thinking about the times we would come out flat after the half, go into a scoring drought and blow a lead. Not this time. Very satisfying that we didn't (how's that for classic understatement). GREAT play by Nelson on the missed free throw by Carter at the end. Good plays by Redick and Carter too.

4. Is there another center in the league that can play Howard straight up as well as Perk? I can't think of one.

5. Rashard Lewis pulled a "LeBron". Just didn't show up. I wouldn't count on that happening twice in a row. Maybe not even twice, period.

6. Gortat is the best backup center in the league (Fesenko started, with Okur out). Very fundamentally sound. Danny must have known that the Magic would never have let him come to Boston, so why bother pursuing him?

7. Very unbalanced scoring for the Celts. Only three players in double figures and one of them is Sheed.

8. Once again, for the umpteenth time, I love Ray Allen. He drove, he shot 3s. What more could you ask from him? He was the best 2 in the game, IMO, outplaying Carter (who also had a good game). Paul Pierce had a heckuva game too. Perk dedicated himself to stymying Howard and left Pierce etal to go after the boards. KG, Pierce and Ray Allen collected 27 out of the Celtics' 38 total. That's coaching.

9. Orlando General Hospital reported a spike in cases of people swallowing whistles. The victims were all wearing grey shirts with logos on them and black pants. The calls went both ways and there was A LOT of contact allowed. To be honest, I thought we'd be doomed, since that would let Howard and Lewis and Gortat pound people into paste, but we gave as good as we got.

10. We had 21 assists on 33 fgm for a 64% ratio. We win when that happens. The Magic only had 10 assists on 32 fgm for a 31% ratio. Did Jameer not do his job, with his tiny total of only 2 assists, or was he correct in shooting first and passing second? It's a chicken-egg type of thing. If you don't get the rest of the team involved and shooting, they go cold. On the other hand, why pass to them if they're cold and you're hot? You do it because that's what point guards do. Our perimeter defense was very good, so Jameer wasn't able to penetrate and kick out like he has done in the past. Our interior defense was excellent too. We've been really swarming on defense the last couple of games. Maybe that's why we've won the last 4 straight.

Someone talked about how this became a "close game". JVG said "no, it isn't, because at no time was this a one-possession game with Orlando having the ball. If you can't win, it's not close". Spoken like a true coach. He also said that if he was his brother, he'd almost rather lose by 15 so that his players don't think that it was close. Let's hope they do.

We needed to win one in Orlando. We did. Now we have to win all our home games. Personally, I'd rather win another in Orlando, just so we can relax a bit. Is this Celtic team not one of the best road teams you've ever seen? They are dismantling some very good teams. The on-court focus these guys are bringing game-in-and-game out is outstanding. Today was a very workman-like effort. If I was Orlando (or LA or Phoenix), I'd be scared. When a team can come into your building and just calmly, coolly, without high drama or raging emotions out-execute you, that's scary. It's like the difference between a screaming lunatic and a cold-blooded assassin. Eventually, the lunatic will run out of adrenalin. The assassin doesn't need adrenaline to do his job, he just needs the opportunity. Our guys have been assassins the past 4 games against Cleveland and Orlando.

1 down, 7 more to go.

bob

.

[steve3344]

This from the Orlando paper after today's game:

Orlando made none of its nine 3-point attempts in the first half. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Magic hadn't gone an entire first half without a trey since a first-round playoff loss to the Detroit Pistons on April 28, 2007.

(FYI - that's 287 games ago.)

[steve3344]

Great piece:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AulYuxagdgW4htmuj8LW1fs5nYcB?slug=aw-celticshoward051610

[mrkleen09]

Great article...thanks for posting it Steve.

[steve3344]

Wojnarowski always tells it like it is and usually better than almost everybody else.

[cowens/oldschool]

steve
Great and accurate article,were back were the Beast of the East,I didn't even see Howard dancing before game,but the interview with Clark Kent at halftime was the lamest pompous thing I've seen in a long long time.Were not here to dance,were sluggers,kill the body and the head will die.
cow

[cowens/oldschool]

I think we can get another one in Orlando.

[bobheckler]

steve,

great article. thanks for posting it. Wojo also wrote that scathing article about LeBron after they lost. He's gotta be every superstar's worst nightmare. His Edward R. Murrow to their Joe McCarthy. He made the Celtics sound like a bunch of lions watching a herd of zebras. He ended it perfectly: "All together, these Celtics watched all that tape of Dwight Howard and they couldn’t wait for Game 1 because they were going hit him harder and harder and hardest. Some of the Celtics watched his little dance before introductions and they knew one thing on Sunday: This beating was going to feel good."

bob

.

[Sponsored content]