After making Atlanta vanish, Orlando's illusions of grandeur disappear against Boston
Jan 20th, 2010 by Aaron Hotchner
5/20/10 – Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth. – Michael Gerard Tyson.
As true today as when Iron Mike first spake it, this truism has been illustrated in fine detail to Orlando™s Magic. Before a stunned home crowd, Boston’s Celtics have twice slapped them silly, building a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. While Sunday™s opener ended 92-88, that™s hardly indicative of the control Boston exerted over Orlando for the large majority 3.75 quarters or so of the game™s four periods. Faring slightly better in Tuesday™s 95-92 loss, Orlando still evinced an inability to understand exactly what it takes to emerge victorious.
In context, one can understand why Boston has the Magic reeling. Undefeated since an April 2nd loss to San Antonio™s Spurs, Orlando rolled over first round speed-bump Charlotte, treating the Bobcats more like the Housecats in a 4-0 sweep. Then, they sat & waited eight days until their opener with second round opponent Atlanta.
Regarding Atlanta: consider Steve Miller Band™s horribly terrible Abracadabra. Peep the video – so 80™s I want to disown my decade of birth to get a clue of where I™m going. Steve & his eponymously named Band labored mightily to score a huge hit with Abracadabra, but it™s new-wavey synths cost the Space Cowboy dearly. Classic rock fans & radio stations – who made Guitar Miller – abandoned the Band in droves, feeling betrayed with the new sound.
A startling intensity shown by Milwaukee™s Bucks in the first round rocked the sleepwalking Hawks. In a deciding game 7, Atlanta finally woke up, crushing Milwaukee 95-74 to advance. Atlanta was subsequently crushed by Orlando, in four short games the Magic won by an average of 25.25 (not a calculation error, I checked it myself!) points. Despite their playoff success, the eventual cost to Atlanta Coach Mike Woodson fired days later, free-agent to be Joe Johnson™s stock plummeting, & fan disgust exploding proved pyrrhic at best.
Orlando now waited six days for Boston. In that time, they joked around, stayed up late, slept late, ate junk food, & relaxed. While Orlando practiced & planned their strategy in that time too, a creeping layer of rust sprouted upon them, cultivated by a dearth of challenges they™d met in nearly 30 days.
Then came the Celtics, fresh from dethroning LeBron & tearing out the collective hearts of every Clevelander. Against Orlando, Boston™s Big Three of Garnett, Pierce, & Allen for whom Coach/Svengali Doc Rivers had cleverly limited regular season playing time hardly resembled the 33+ years old collection of vets they are. Game 1 saw 25 points & seven rebounds from Allen, whilst Pierce contributed 22 & 9. Meanwhile, stingy defense played by Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, & Kendrick Perkins caged the beast that was Dwight Howard, forcing him into 13 measly points & 7 turnovers. Boston™s best player of the Cavs series the ineffable Rajon Rondo barely even showed up, managing a relatively pedestrian 8 points, 8 assists, & 4 boards.
Howard resembled more of his old self in game two, posting 30 points & eight rebounds, but also resembled a man playing one on five. No other Magic-ian did better than 16 points, (Vince Carter & J.J. Reddick) with Carter playing especially odious in the night™s final moments. On the line with a chance to bring Orlando within one point of Boston, Carter clanged both, saying afterwards:
They bring me in to make plays and deliver in crunch time. For me to step up there and miss two free throws, regardless, this doesn’t sit well with me.”
On the subject of game 2 play making & delivery in crunch time, topic A could be Paul Pierce, whose 28 points spoke volumes. Topic B was a resurgent Rondo – 25 points, 8 assists, & 5 rebounds.
Recently discussed as a lock for the NBA Finals in reference to their rampage through the quarters & semis, Orlando now has the unenviable task of winning at least one game in Boston, or surely perish. Back to back victories in Beantown would even things up, but any crystal-ball/magic 8-ball predictors would describe chances of that as hazy at best. Do not however, tell Dwight Howard that.
” I won’t stop believing,” Howard said. ” And I won’t let my teammates stop believing.”