Archive for May, 2010

Instead of laying down, the Orlando Magic showed a lot of fight, winning game 4 to extend the Eastern Conference Finals to a fifth game.  The Magic blew a late seven-point lead in regulation but outplayed the Boston Celtics in overtime and came away with a 96-92 victory. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 32 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 32 points of his own. NBA NBA Stats NBA Stats

The Orlando Magic look to bounce back from an embarrassing Game 3 loss and avoid a sweep when they take on the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals Monday night. Tip-off from the TD Banknoth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EST and the game will be shown by ESPN. If you can’t watch the game, you can listen to it nationally on ESPN Radio or locally on WDBO AM 580 and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030. The officials will be Scott Foster, Bob Delaney and Derrick Stafford. The Line: Boston -7.5 [...]

Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals will tip-off at 8:30 p.m. EST Monday night in Boston. The Magic have one last chance to win a game in this series. The Magic unraveled in the first quarter when shots didn’t drop. Turnovers mounted and players decided to go one-on-one instead of patiently making the extra pass. The mass frustration spilled over to the defensive end. In other words, they played into the Celtics’ hands. “We got to have more mental toughness and discipline,” Van Gundy said. “Our offensive frustration mounted into not playing well defensively and then we were done. [...]

The Orlando Magic were destroyed on Saturday night, falling to the Boston Celtics 94-71 to fall behind three-games-to-none in the Eastern Conference Finals. Orlando’s promising season looks like it is about to come to a close. Several hours before tipoff at the morning shootaround Saturday, Magic guard J.J. Redick called Game 3, “the definition of a must-win.” Somewhere between the shootaround and the game itself, the Magic must have lost their dictionary. Must win? The Magic came out like a college team playing its first exhibition game against Athletes in Action. “They outplayed us, outhustled and worked harder than us,” [...]

In a must-win Game 3, the Orlando Magic were dominated by the Boston Celtics from start to finish. Boston raced out to a 15-point first quarter lead and never looked back, finishing with a 94-71 victory. Glen Davis led a balanced attack with 17 points off the bench. Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter scored 15 points apiece to lead the Magic. NBA Stats NBA NBA

The Orlando Magic have put themselves in an extremely difficult situation after losing the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals at home against the Boston Celtics. In order to make a return trip to the NBA Finals, the Magic will have to win four out of the next five games and three of those games are in Boston, starting with Game 3 Saturday night. Tip-off from the TD Banknoth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EST and the game will be shown by ESPN. If you can’t watch the game, you can listen to it [...]

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel compares Saturday night’s Game 3 to a Game 7. The Magic were on such a roll about a week ago that another title shot seemed imminent. Now they are playing to save their season. “Most definitely,” power forward Rashard Lewis said. “This is a must-win game. The pressure is on us already. If we go down zero-3, I mean how tough would that be? We’re not giving up. We feel like we can still win the series. “We have to make a stand now.” That’s what it’s quickly come to for a team that [...]

Matt Barnes is playing in the Conference Finals for the first time in his career. He’s been defending one of the best shooters in the history of the league in Boston Celtics Guad Ray Allen. Chasing Allen around screens is difficult enough, but he’s also had to guard one of the best players of the last 10 years in Celtics Forward Paul Pierce. All well trying to help his teammates get going on offense against a dominating Boston defense. That should be more than enough for one player to attempt to handle. But it gets even more complicated for Barnes. [...]

Here is a cool video brought to my attention by one of HtD’s readers. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, a contributor on the Fansided Front Page and on Sir Charles In Charge. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here

Matt Barnes spoke up on Thursday – he would like to guard Paul Pierce. Looking at an 0-2 deficit, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy is expected to unleash Barnes and his edgy, defensive mentality on Pierce Saturday night in Game 3, hoping to claw back into the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. “I’d love to guard Pierce. I think I can slow him down,” Barnes said Thursday after a two-hour practice. “I’ve studied his game. I’ve played against him in the summers. I don’t go for a lot of stuff he tries to do. This is the kind of thing I’m [...]