Boston Celtics 92, Orlando Magic 88

I still got the Magic winning the series handily, but all games will likely be close. They need to make drastic adjustments to win tho.
The cross adjustment really flopped on itself there. While many of us were saying it made sense to do, I said that Barnes and MP should be guarding PP thru the first two games to make sure he stayed ineffective. Instead of playing a continued poor playoffs, Pierce broke out big, classic mid range shots and drives, and tons of FTs in PP fashion. He sorely outplayed VC. Barnes and MP are more suited for PP than Allen, and Allen outplayed them, and Id rather depend on Allens shooting than PPs drives and playmaking if I’m the Magic. I fully expect to see that change next game. PP and Allen scored an efficient 20+ points each, it’s, frankly, embarassing that not even atleast one could be stopped. Putting Barnes and MP back on PP is the way to go, MP looked great on PP whenever it happened.
 
The other glaring defensive issues were paint points. Some of it is sacrficied to maintain Dwight roaming, but he and Shard let alot of back door cuts and open big men to have point blank shots. The Celtics also drived alot more than they shouldve been allowed. I was happy for KGs poor production but it could have been fluky, only impacting more the necessity to atleast stop one of Allen or PP. As I thought, Rondo is vastly less effective than most everyone thought, just like in the reg. Season and in last yrs series.

On offense, I would run less thru VC and try to involve Rashard and Dwight more in plays. He was getting tired I think, and VC makes some boneheaded TOs like in bounds passing and poor passes. He also has been effectively slowed down in recieving the ball, making me wonder why give it to him in frustration talk, and can be funneled by defenses rather than force the drive for FTs. In fairness, much of his drives have fouls on VC but the refs call it as such and I prefer a no whistle game anyways. VC was still relatively efficient. He should be taking away 2pnters for more 3s and drives and post ups, he has a good post up on them he should be using more.
One player I would run thru instead is Jameer. As I thought, Rondo does a pretty good job on him, but Jameer still had 20. The way jameer scores and playmakes is that he’s a threat to shoot well off PnRs unlike Rondo. I countlessly was wondering why the Magic weren’t hammering down more PnRs for him. Jameer would have to initiate without it too much and the other big problem was many PnRs were extremely poorly set for Jameer. I was comically laughing at how Dwight and VC set such a poor pick at times, Jameer got little room and it turned out into a double on him instead, without even being a over the pick or show and cover pick defense. When Jameer has a great pick, he can do a 8 point run in a minute like today. SVG has to get something going for Rashard someway somehow. If the Magic come out with Jameer PnRs and Dwight post ups much more often, then it will set up a inside out presence for Rashard and VC later on to have more room to operate.

In essence, there needs to be alot of adjustments. The Magic needed to adjust to a strong opponent for once, meaning the competition in round 2 was too easy for preparation like some thought. Luckily, homecourt is not really a big advantage once you’re in these late rounds, but make no mistake, Magic have a Game 7 on Tuesday regardless, in terms of momentum and confidence, they need to win it. They need to find some offense for themselves, and keep up the defensive pressure even higher, making sure most of all this time to eliminate the cross match and/or effectively guard atleast one of Pierce or Ray Allen.

Actually, I’m that sad. Bc, I think they really pulled it together at the end. I think they just needed a bit of a warm up. We just continue to play! On to the next game! GO MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it was good for our confidence in the next games that we were able to rally and were a 3 pointer away from winning the game.

Bright spots:
Vince Carter played hard on offense for the entire game. It’s a shame is long range looks weren’t going in because they were good looks. Also, he should’ve gone to the free throw line a little more since he was so aggressive. But the refs were mostly fair in this game so I can’t make a big deal out of that. Redick was very strong in the minutes he had, and that was also the case last year against the Celts. I also felt our defense was strong for most of the game and our effort level seemed high.

Dark spots:
Dwight was not good offensively. He let himself get frustrated, but seemed to cool down towards the end of the game. Boston’s D on him was very good, but I still felt he had a lot of chances close to the basket where he should’ve scored and it just didn’t go in. The league leader in FG% needs to be more efficient. I also think Ben is right in his write up that they need to get him as a finisher rather than posting up. Mixing it up a little more could break the inside D of the Celtics. Rashard’s problem mainly came from not having a lot of opportunities to score, but when he did they were really awkward shots. Pietrus didn’t seem nearly as comfortable as he has been, and I credit rust and Boston D for that.

Overall, I really think we can win this series but only if we can play smarter with more focus. We would’ve won this game if we had played only slightly under our season average. The key is Dwight, who needs to get better looks on offense and convert his high percentage baskets. I don’t have too many issues on defense, other than Allen needs someone to run with him and Barnes seems really out of it with his back.

Matt Barnes isn’t feeling good and JJ always plays R Allen very well IMO

The Magic didn’t play well at all for 3 quarters, in the third the offense finally appeared, but the defense was still very soft. If only a few of those 3-pointers had fell…

D12 once again allowed Rasheed Wallace to mess up with his head. That sucked.

Even during those first 3 quarters there were moments of Magic Basketball, where they were able to cut down the deficit, only to allow Boston to pull away again.

All in all, yes, Boston played good D, but Orlando wasn’t playing their game either. Bad 3point shooting, low assists, waaaaay too many unnecessary turnovers. Like the guys in ESPNLA said, the Magic can at least go away thinking, that playing this bad they only lost by 4.

Your go-to-complaint consistently revolves around Stan orchestrating the offense away from the Dwight post. The adjustment you seem to hope for never happens and the Magic continue winning. When are you going to let that go?

But I don’t see the Mafic shooting 23% from 3 again. If the Magic shoot 7 of 22 we might be looking at a different outcome. It’s a bad game. It happens. We just can’t have 3 more bad games.

The magic were bound to lose a couple, But orlando is superior and will win the majority and by game seven it will be ours!

I am extremely confident we will win this series. We knew this would be a tough, grinding series, we knew that it would go the distance, and that all the games will be close. Boston is not better than us, our 3’s will fall, D12 will put his numbers, & SVG will have the proper adjustments in place as the series goes on. It pissed me off how people were already declaring the series over during the game thread, and I also don’t like those who only show up & comment when things aren’t going well, then they start bashing the team, players, coaches, etc. We’re starting to sound like those spoiled, whiny Celtics fans who want to run the team out of town when they lose. We’re not gonna win every game, and every loss is something to learn from. And God forbid, if we do lose this series, then hey, maybe we weren’t the better team, but enough with the sad songs already, and have some faith. Go Magic!

But we needed this lost.. It’s time for us to realize that hell yeah we are in the playoffs(ECF). Like what vc said it’s a wake up call. And a good thing about this game is we rallied in the final minutes and almost got lucky. It’s time for us to step it up and bring our A game.. I know we get this.. We are here because we deserve to be here.. LETS GO MAGIC!!!

I said prior to the game that was very worried about Boston, who sure enough, have turned on the switch (I hate that there’s even a switch to turn on) and are now playing like the 2008 C’s again. I said my primary concern was that Boston can swarm Dwight like any team with a bunch of bigs can. Except here’s the thing: The big in question have historically frustrated Dwight. We’re talking about Rasheed Wallace, Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett.
What you saw last night was not an anomaly. All season long Dwight has struggled against team’s with a handful of bigs with fouls to give. When the bigs are this talented, his struggles are magnified.
Surely Stan and company knew this? Why then were we throwing it to him constantly during the 1st and 3rd quarter? We pretty much fell into Boston’s trap. Why else was Sheed out there. That Celtic Green is kyrptonite for him. I mean, that one play where he couldn’t even take it to the rim against Pierce speaks volumes of how soft a player he still is on the offensive side.
But even beyond Dwight, I just think the team was not ready for the Boston’s scrappy defense and halfcourt sets with the length they encountered. While I give credit to the guys for attempting to penetrate the lane (Vince Carter in particular), too often it looked like they overwhelmed by the size of Boston’s length, which would explain the kick outs and passes on easy shots (Lewis and Redick in particular). I think that also had a lot to do with Jason Williams play as well. He looked flustered and uncertain.
And in both Jameer and Jason’s case, neither of them pushed the ball for most of the game. When they did push the ball they made a run. However more often they brought the ball up slowly and all that does is make you fall into Boston’s half court trap. Its a classic Playoff trick that too often or not talented running teams get shot down with. Its the same issue in the LA-Phoenix series, and its the same issue we had last year vs the Lakers.
I also think the decision to have Barnes guard Ray and Carter on Pierce was a mistake. Paul got a few easy fouls off Pierce and Barnes seemed to be playing tight because of his back and didn’t get it going until the end.
A lotta credit has to go to Vince though for keeping us in this, and its really a shame that if we go down in this series, people will point to the Carter for Hedo switch as the reason, when that’s accurate and fair on Vince at all. Look I was a little annoyed that people first say “We cant win because Vince wont show up” and then turn around and say “Well you know when Vince is the only player stepping up you’re in trouble”. Dude is damned if he do, and Damned if he don’t. Perhaps Hedo, a known problem for the C’s would have helped us size wise, but this is a better built team compared to last year. I just dont know if we lose because of one lost matchup.

I definetly with the analysts yesterday that the run towards the end was Fool’s Gold, and I didnt like the idea that Orlando seemed unfazed by the loss because of it. There are still a variety of matchup issues that I dont know if we can overcome. And considering Garnett and Rondo had somewhat quiet games, its scary to think that this could have been a 30 point hole at one point much like Cleveland went through, had those 2 showed up. The sad reality is, Boston didnt play that well either, and they still kicked our ass. Very reminiscent of the Detroit Series of 2007 and 2008.

I’m not very confident of the rest of the series out. I do believe we win Game 2, but Games 3 and 4 in Boston are gonna be a challenge. Right now I can see us being downed in 6.

My take? Mix up the small lineup that made the run at the end with some twin towers for Dwight. It would probably be best to try and see if we can put Gortart and Dwight together in the lineup at some point to combat and cancel out Boston’s bigs, and then in the backcourt perhaps run a 3 man offense with Carter-Redick-Nelson. Also, as much people dont like him, Brandon Bass is needed for this series. Yeah he maybe a bit of a butterfingers and undersized, but hes still beefy (pause) and scrappy to combat the C’s style of play. I think they need to be match by a younger energetic version of themselves.

As for Rashard Lewis firing threes and Ryan Anderson doing likewise, I dont think it works. The Celtics let the guys shoot their threes knowing they were confident enough to get them to shoot in their uncomfortable spots and closed the gap as much as could be. Live by the 3, die by the 3 for this Magic squad.

I hope we make the adjustments, but if I have to be honest as a Basketball realist first and a Magic fan second, I will be very impressed if we somehow overcome the Celtics this series.

Even if both teams were sloppy at the start, Boston’s great defense was backed by a very good offense and that, plus the fact that Orlando’s shots weren’t falling made Magic nervous and gave the Celtics a good lead. People here who criticize VC really shouldn’t. Magic went to him a lot cause he was having a great night and was one of the few in the first 3 quarters to take it to the rim. What was possitive though was that Magic found the way to improve during the game. Nelson came back with great energy, Gortat was great, alone or with Dwight on the floor. I really liked JJ’s effort and even J-Will when he came in in the forth brought that offensive push that he hasn’t done in some time. As it’s been pointed out the Magic should have a better flow from the start. I have faith in Dwight for taking better care of his offense (more PnRs) but I don’t think he needs to be the main focus of the offense in this series. MP and Lewis can’t shoot that bad next time. In a good day, I think Magic has too many weapons for the Celtics to handle and I’m very confident for the next games. My biggest concern is Barnes’ health because even if he doesn’t have a lot of offense his role in the starting line up is key. Give credit to the Celtics for a great game and can’t wait for game 2.

Also, a combined 6 for 24 shooting from the Magic starting frontline is hard to believe.

I give the Celtics credit for doing what they needed to do to win, but it’s only one game, and only one loss for the Magic.

Firstly, we can’t make the mistake of assuming we’ll shoot better than that. We averaged 41% from the field against the Celtics in the regular season, and shot 41.6% last night. Yes, you’d expect the threes to fall a little more regularly, but otherwise, that’s the offense we’re playing with.

We need to take care of the ball first and foremost. We need to run the pick and roll more often, especially with Dwight. We need to up our pace a little to take advantage of the older Celtic legs. And we need to play better defense – we can’t let the Celtics outshoot us, because we’re just not going to shoot a high percentage without getting those open shots off double teams on Dwight.

Three things had to go perfect for that play to work.

1. Carter had to miss purposefully on the right side of the rim and hit the backboard to deaden the bounce a bit, so it won’t go back to the general crowd
2. Gortat had to run across the lane and force Rasheed to stay on him, so that opened up the right side. If you noticed, Gortat didn’t even look at the rim when the ball was released.
3. Nelson swoops in on the now completely open side and lays the ball in

It is only a shame that this play will only work once. Still, that was beautiful to behold, and I cannot wait to see what else is in SVG and the Magic’s bag.

the celtics are makin all the other teams star players bad, i wonder what that is? when we (the celtics) played the cavs, LeBron was helpless, and now dwight howard is gettin there too…. :D

Someone please let me know when we start the conversation about looking for a new coach, a new GM, and what players to trade during the offseason, because I know it’s coming.

Nobody talked about that !