Every morning, we’ll give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.
1: Magic go Chernobyl
The Orlando Magic had something to prove. After scoring a franchise low 56 points in a 31 point loss to the Celtics, the Magic were chomping at the bit to show the Celtics, and the NBA, that that was an aberration.
And they did that. For one half.
The Celtics turned a 27 point third quarter deficit into an eight point win by outscoring the Magic 54-25 in the second half. The Celtics swarming defense had something to do with it, but the Magic gave the Celtics plenty of help.
With the Celtics up five with 3:47 left in the game, Ryan Anderson lost it and got a technical foul. 20 seconds later, Dwight got T’d up. Boston only made one of the two free throws, but by then it almost didn’t matter because Orlando was in full meltdown mode.
That lack of composure is why Orlando let a 27 point lead slip away. The Magic let the Celtics have life. The Magic got frantic in the face of pressure rather than executing the three or four plays it would have taken early in the fourth quarter to push the lead from 11 (the spread after the third quarter) to 15 or 16 and get Doc Rivers to sit his starters and call it a night.
Orlando didn’t do it. The Celtics took advantage. And now Orlando’s legitimacy is being questioned once again.
2: Orlando could learn from…. the Clippers?
The Clippers stormed out to a huge lead and lost it too. But they figured out a way to win it.
Mo Williams came up with 18 off the bench, nine in the fourth quarter to seal it. As compared to Glen Davis in Orlando who was 3-11 for seven points off the bench… 0-3 in the fourth (and 0-2 from the FT line for good measure).
The Clippers, with big performances from their stars and a good contribution off the bench held on to win a tough game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Orlando got none of that and couldn’t hold on.
3: HIGHLIGHTS!!!
Blake Griffin gets all Blake Griffin-y on the Washington Generals.
I’m sorry. I’m told those were the Memphis Grizzlies. The uniforms confused me. Moving on.
Here’s KG rejecting Dwight Howard
And Rudy Gay beats the first quarter buzzer from beyond half court
4: Line of the Night: Paul Pierce: 24 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds
Pierce has that old man swag working right now. He’s looking healthy after dealing with a heel injury suffered just before the preseason, and he looks like his conditioning is back.
But more than the points he’s scoring is the fact that Paul Pierce can do whatever the Boston Celtics need him to do to help the team get past a tough spot. With Rajon Rondo sidelined with a wrist injury, Pierce is now averaging eight assists a game over his last five games. He’ll still take the big shots and make plenty of those, but the reason the Celtics have climbed back to 8-9 is Pierce’s passing and ability to morph his game as needed.
5: You can quote me on that:
Kevin Garnett sums up the big Boston comeback… as only KG can.
