Celtics-Magic Game Four: Next Stop, Game Seven

Tonight in Orlando, the Celtics evened their series with the Magic, and in all likelhood, won it. That might sound premature, given that the Magic have led for more of these games than the Celtics, and a last-second 1-point win in a game where you outshoot the opposition by 13 percent from the floor doesn't sound like something to draw a lot of conclusions from. But I've seen the Drama Celtics just enough to know that they aren't losing Game 7 at home, and there's no way the Magic are going to win the next two games. So, you do the math. (You also trust that the Cavs will avoid such drama, especially when they will have a week's worth of extra rest and home court.)

Tonight in the minutes that mattered, Courtney Lee made Eddie House disappear, Brian Scalabrine was helpless, Big Baby Davis continues to be the biggest flopper since Vlade Divac, and the Magic were somehow in the game despite Paul Pierce having the range, and shooting under 40% for their own damn selves. With 8:58 left, Pierce picked up his fifth in a ticky-tack play, and after a make, it was 83-80 and serious worry time for the visitors. But eventually the Magic went back to players like JJ Redick and Anthony Johnson, and that's not exactly a recipe for the Eastern Conference Championship.

With four minutes left, Lee made a nice hesitation jumperr to get things tight, but Rondo was able to draw Howard's fourth foul on an air call. After a single make, it was back to a three point game. Rondo nearly had the steal, but Lee recovered and drained another mid-range shot to cut it to one. Pierce got to the rim but got no call, and Lee missed the go-ahead -- the kind of shot you need to make -- but Davis decided to travel rather than try to shoot over Howard. With 150 seconds left, it was Celtics 91, Magic 90.

After the timeout, Howard missed the Magic's second chance to take the lead. An Allen miss from the corner gave the Magic the ball with two minutes left, and Boston had missed it's last seven shots. Lee's jumped was blocked, and for the third time, the home team didn't take the lead. Pierce missed on good defense from Mickael Pietrus, and Turkoglu's three-pointer clanged out, but not until Rondo failed to control it, giving the Magic possession.

After the timeout, the Magic actually tried some ball movement, and got Howard to the line. His struggles there are well documented, but after two makes, the Magic finally got the lead, with 50 seconds left, 92-91, for the home team's first lead in the second half. It only lasted for 17 seconds, as Davis made a huge bucket. Turkoglu's three pointer missed again, but Pietrus got the board (and was probably fouled), and the Magic called time with 16.7 to go.

Turkoglu has a reputation for fourth quarter greatness, but he's 0 for 5 in this one. Instead of going to Turk Iso, the Magic swing the ball to Lewis, who gets to the line against a Davis foul. Lewis is overpaid and has many holes in his game, but free throw shooting isn't one of them, and he makes both to give the home team the 94-93 lead with 11.3 seconds left.

The de riguer timeout -- doesn't Doc Rivers know that the only way to get Phil Jackson's reputation is to not call timeouts? -- gave us the opportunity to see Ray Allen's clutch bio, which to be fair, is extensive. Rondo feeds Pierce, who gets it to Davis, and Big Baby casually drains a line-drive jumper from 21 feet to win it. Yeesh. You can't blame the Magic too much for guarding Rondo, Pierce and Allen and losing to Davis from distance. But had they made any of those shots in the last three minutes, they might have had the margin for error to avoid a tied series on a last-second make. But then again, what should you expect from a team whose arena is named after Amway?

As for the men from Massachusetts, I'm clearly not a Celtics fan, but Lord, they do deliver the drama. We'll have three more games from them until it stops.