Celtics-Magic Game Six: A Shocking Lack Of Shock

Tonight in Orlando, Orlando and Boston played yet another meat grinder of a game, with the home team never getting separation and things looking like they'd wind up as another last-second contest. But then a funny thing happened; the team that can't close did, and Orlando ties the series at 3 with an 85-73 win.

The game turned on Kendrick Perkins' fifth foul, which happened halfway through the fourth. Immediately afterward, Rashard Lewis got to the rack (on a night where no one on the Magic, other than the immortal Mikael Pietrus, was hitting from distance) to push the lead to five. Paul Pierce insisted on slightly more drama than that, and made three straight to give the Celtics their final lead of the game. Dwight Howard then missed a couple of free throws just to prove that he's not a viable fourth quarter option, but a sudden and shocking turn from Rafer Alston of all people -- a steal and three -- tied it back up at 75 with 4 minutes left.

Misses and turnovers followed as both teams ratcheted up the defense, but Howard finally made one to give the home team the lead. For a second, it seemed like Pierce had turned the tide by drawing Howard's fifth. But he failed co convert the free throws, and Alston followed with a three and a block on Rondo (post-timeout), leading to Hedo Turkoglu's only very good moment of the game, pushing the lead to 6. The C's followed with a Rondo turnover and the Magic ran clock, finally getting Lewis to the line to make the final 85-73 score.

Before Orlando starts feeling too good about themselves, someone has to tell me how Rajon Rondo gets a 19-16-6 line with 4 steals (and, whoops, 5 turnovers). Sixteen boards for a point guard in 40 minutes? At some point, some one has to actually put a body on that guy, since he can't actually shoot; you might want to start boxing that guy out. Yeesh.

The real trouble for the road team was that while they held the home team to 36.6% shooting, they weren't much better themselves (41.6%). They also didn't get to the line, didn't shoot well from three, and committed ten more turnovers. It wasn't like the Magic played all that well (Howard had 23 and 22, Lewis had 20, and that's about it for guys having good games), either. But that the thing about the Drama Celtics; this will be their second straight year of going the distance in the first two rounds. You can credit them for closing the deal at home, or you can wonder about their game preparation, or age sapping their legs.

Anyway, Game 7 is Sunday, and the Celtics are 32-0 in series where they've lead 3-2. Magic coach Stan van Gundy, in his post-game press conference, then talked about how someone is eventually going to do this, and cited the 2004 Red Sox as his inspiration. You go, Ron Jeremy, and keep equating your team with the one that Boston Fan idolizes. It won't end any better for you, but at least you'll cause more high blood pressure and hurt feelings from the opposition's fans. And who knows, maybe Allen will continue to be old...