Orlando is starting to believe in their Magic. And that’s how Orlando took charge and defeated the Celtics by 86-78. With a decisive 4th quarter that saw Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick complete a jumper in the last minute while both Celtics’ Nate Robinson and Ray Allen each had airballs in the final seconds, the Orlando Magic went on to dominate the Boston Celtics and give them their first defeat since November 21st at Toronto.
Orlando Magic is giving us a brand new face. It seems like Santa finally listen to head coach Stan Van Gundy’s prayers and gave him one heck of a Christmas Day present. The Magic has just signed a few key player that include top-notch point-guard Gilbert Arenas from Washington and Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson and Earl Clark from Phoenix. This Magic mix has been enough to bring in two outstanding wins over the San Antonio Spurs, ending their 10-game winning streak and over the Boston Celtics, cutting theirs at 14.
There is one factor that must be taken into consideration. Like we had stated before, the Celtics where winning, yes, they had the longest winning streak of the season, but they were certainly hurting badly. The Celtics had to rely on its backups for the better half of these 14 games. Injuries had been playing a negative roll against the Boston Celtics. Point Guard Rajon Rondo has been out for 7 games now due to a sprained ankle and backup Delonte West has missed the last 13 after he broke his wrist. As a matter of fact, Jemaine O’Neal played for the first time since the streak began and Kendrick Perkins, who used to be the starting center, hasn’t played yet.
Still, there is one very distinct side of this injury prone and veteran based team. They Celtics kept on winning. If you take into consideration that the Big Three, that is: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are still healthy, the Celtics have managed to keep on winning, that’s something that they couldn’t do last year.
Brandon Bass scored 21-points and 9 rebounds while Hedu Turkoglu had 15 points as Orlando Magic defeated the Celtics 86-78 on Christmas Day. Jameer Nelson went out as the starter and collected 12 points while Roddick had 12. Dwight Howard got into foul trouble early on the game while keeping a close defense over Shaquille O’Neal. He collected 11 rebounds but was quite unproductive on the offensive end.
Orlando had been struggling recently. The Magic had lost 8 of its last 9 games of the season, and they were not capable of bringing a good record for the season until they underwent the big mid season swap of players. The Orlando Magic will now play the New Jersey Nets. As of press time the Magic are a -6-point favorite on the NBA spread.
Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard had a couple of incidents on the court that ended early in the first three quarters. After a small wrestle, Howard was able to pull a sixth foul on Shaq and send him to the locker rooms early in the game.
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