Celtics Fall For That Old Familiar Magic

Well that didn't last long. If you had hopes of the Celtics riding the high of a game seven win over Chicago and coasting to an easy game one win over Orlando, you're probably not in a good mood right now. The Magic did, well, what the Magic do. Shooting 27 three-pointers and making 9 of them, the Magic were able to build a pretty sizable lead before the Celtics came storming back. Make no mistake, there were absolutely no surprises in this game. The Magic shot a ton of 3s, made a poor percentage of their free throws (76.2, still five points above their season average, sadly), and still took the defending champs down at home. If the world comes tumbling down and historians have only this game tape to judge the 2008-2009 Celtics by, they'll probably express one thought: How the hell did this team make it into the playoffs, let alone out of round one? Ray Allen continued his really-big-hit-or-really-big-miss playoffs with a 2-12 stinker for 9 points. You can't fault some of the performances he put in in the opening round, but it would be nice for the Celtics if he could bring that type of game every night. The rest of the team played a pretty pedestrian game, with most firmly in the red in the +/- category except an apparently red-hot Scalabrine who put up a +22 in 27 minutes of time. Scal's line is a microcosm of the problems the Celtics face in this series. It's less about what the Magic can do than it is who the Celtics have to do without. That Scal is even being called on to play in such long stretches is the real hitch in the Celtics' plans to get out of this round, although you can't fault the guy's effort. The rest of the bench (that actually played) was alright. Marbury was efficient if not spectacular off the bench and Eddie House played a good 13 minutes, with a decent line of 6-3-3 while shooting 40%. Overall, though, everyone just looked (understandably) tired. The Celtics came out flat and stayed that way for much of the game until Orlando really took their foot off the gas. Brian "Momentum" Scalabrine checked in with 8:36 left in the third quarter and the Celtics suddenly took off. Coincidence? Well, yeah. The old adage is that basketball is a game of runs, even at this high of a level. One team goes on a 12-4 run, the other responds with a 15-3; these things happen. Momentum swings are at the heart of each and every basketball game and playoff series are decided based on how teams respond to those runs, both for and against. This series, especially, is going to prove that point. The Magic are the epitome of a streak shooting team. They're going to rain down three point shots, passing out of the post for that corner shot, especially. When they get hot they're going to be able to put up a bunch of points and put them up fast. At the same time, they're going to go cold and have a really hard time holding on to even the largest leads, as we all saw on Game one. Charles Barkley said after the game on TNT's postgame show that there are times when you can "win a game without winning a game." Now, it sounded, if you can believe it, even dumber coming out of Charles Barkley than it does in print, but it actually makes sense, as most things Barkley says do in their own unique Alabama way. The Celtics lost game one on tired legs, poor execution, and by letting the Magic's lead build to such a point that they just couldn't come back, despite their effort. It didn't take any extraordinary effort by the Celtics to come back, however. That's where the Celtics are finding the victory in this, because they know that the Magic can't hold them down, despite Howard's defensive prowess and those tired legs. They know it. The Magic know it. They know the Magic know it. That's the edge, and that's the reason you should ignore the obituaries on the Celtics 2009 playoff run that you'll probably read in at least one place tomorrow. A few calls here and there and the Celtics are waking up to game stories tomorrow that are talking about a great game one comeback rather than the early hole they've put themselves in, but the Celtics know they're not out of this yet. That's where the benefit of experience lies in this series. The Celtics know they can probably go to Orlando and get a win, that's well within the realm of possibility. The question is can the Celtics maintain the intensity needed to prevent Orlando from building such large leads and, when the Celtics build their own leads, keep Orlando from getting hot from behind the line. It sounds simple, but this series is going to boil down to the simple things: intensity, execution, and effort. The Celtics, even without Garnett, should be able to win this series. It would've likely had to go seven, even without the early setback, and the road is certainly more difficult now, but it's very possible. If I were Dwight Howard, the unquestioned leader of this team, I'd be livid in that locker room tonight. A win by 5 when you were up 28 with barely more than 20 minutes left to play is not the way to start a playoff series, even if your play style means you're subject to letting leads slip. The Magic are going to win this series one way: by making the shots that they can make, feeding the ball to Howard inside, and putting as much pressure as possible on the Celtics. The more tired the Celtics get, the worse they're going to play. If the Magic can outhustle the boys in Green, this series is as good as over. If the Celtics can find something, anything left, well they've got a lot left to play for.