Game of the day: Boston Celtics at Orlando Magic
By MARC LAWRENCE
The Orlando Magic look to recover from Sunday’s 92-88 home loss suffered against Boston when they host the Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference championship showdown.
Shaking off the rust
The rest vs. rust argument was never more prevalent than in Sunday’s Game 1 showdown when Orlando suffered its first loss since April 4.
The Magic entered Sunday’s contest riding a 14-game win streak (13-1 ATS) before falling to the Celtics after having last played at Atlanta on Monday.
“It’s tough any time you have to sit around,’’ Ray Allen told the Boston Globe. “Especially at this time of year when you know you have a pretty good formula for how you have been playing basketball and everybody has a great rhythm.’’
Orlando dipped to 6-13 ATS (against the spread) in its series against Boston when playing on two or more days of rest.
Ironically, the Magic are 7-2 SU and 6-3 ATS at home against the Celtics when playing on exactly one day of rest.
All-Star center Dwight Howard looked particularly rusty, going 3-for-10 from the field and 7-for-12 for the free throw line. Howard shot less than 50 percent this season against only three teams: Miami, Denver and Boston.
"I played like a robot. They want me to wrestle and fight with them," Howard told reporters after the game. "That takes me off my game. So I just have to not wrestle with them. Just play."
Luckily for Orlando, he doesn't have long for reprogramming.
Turning up the heat
The Celtics’ stifling defense proved too much for the Magic to handle in Game 1. It’s the same one that destroyed Cleveland in the semifinal round.
After allowing more than 100 points in eight of its final nine games of the season, Boston has held six of its nine playoff foes under the century mark.
The Celtic built a 16-point lead through three quarters before Orlando's rally came up just short at the end. Boston’s only points in the final five-and-a-half minutes of the game came at the foul line.
Hampered by injuries most of the season, the Celtics limped their way to the playoffs.
All that seems a distant memory now.
"I honestly say we lost ourselves," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I think we've found ourselves again."
Bye bye Amway
Orlando might be playing its last game ever in the Amway Center tonight.
The Magic will be moving into a new arena next season. A potential Game 5 would be played back in Orlando on Wednesday, May 27.
If the Magic loses Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final against Boston, they face the prospect of a sweep when they play Games 3 and 4 in Boston.
To avoid doing so they will need to get their 3-point shooting back on track. Orlando hit just five treys Sunday, despite averaging 10.2 three-pointers per game this season. They missed all nine in the first half, and Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter combined to miss all seven of their 3-point attempts.
"Boston just did a great job of challenging our shot. They were few and far between," said Carter. "They were stingy. And we didn't do a very good job against their defense."
The Magic will need to adopt Amway’s new ‘Think Positive’ slogan or it could be lights out at the Amway Center.
Playoff pointers
- Orlando beat the Celtics in Game 7 in the second round of the playoffs (in Boston) last year.
- Boston is 4-14 SU and ATS off an upset win in the playoffs against Eastern Conference foes.
- The Magic are 1-8 ATS as a playoff favorite off a straight up loss as a favorite.
- Home teams in Game 2 of the 3rd Round off a Game 1 home loss are 4-8-1 under.
NBA PLAYOFFS
EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Boston (9-3 SU and ATS) at Orlando (8-1 SU, 7-2 ATS)
The Celtics, coming off a Game 1 upset of the hottest team in the postseason, look to take complete control of this best-of-7 Eastern Conference finals series with a Game 2 victory over the Magic at Amway Arena.
Fourth-seeded Boston led by as much as 20 points in Sunday’s series opener, then held off a fourth-quarter Orlando rally in a 92-88 victory as a 6½-point road underdog, halting the Magic’s perfect playoff march and a 14-game win streak (13-1 ATS) that dated to the regular season. Ray Allen paced the Celts with 25 points, and Paul Pierce had 22 points and nine rebounds. Boston outshot Orlando 44.6 percent to 41.6 percent, hitting 33 of 74 from the field while the Magic made 32 of 77.
Dwight Howard had a double-double for No. 2 seed Orlando, but he was limited to just 13 points on 3-for-10 shooting and a 7-for-12 effort at the free-throw line, while collecting 12 rebounds. Vince Carter had 23 points, and Jameer Nelson added 20 points and nine assists in the losing effort. The Magic outrebounded Boston 45-38, including a 15-7 edge in offensive boards, but it wasn’t enough to dodge the upset for a team that had posted 10 double-digit routs during its 14-game winning streak.
Orlando is 5-2 SU (4-3 ATS) in the last seven meetings in this rivalry, including 3-2 SU (2-3 ATS) this season, and the Magic also took out Boston in seven games in the second round of the 2009 playoffs. Going back to Game 7 of that series, the visitor and the underdog have covered in six straight in this rivalry, and Boston is 6-2 ATS in its last eight visits to Amway Arena.
The SU winner has cashed in all 12 of the Celts’ playoff contests and in 22 straight games overall for Doc Rivers’ team, and the SU winner is 16-1 ATS in the Magic’s last 17 overall.
Boston is 30-17 on the highway (54-21-1 ATS) this season (4-2 SU and ATS in the playoffs), with victories in its last three postseason roadies, as the Celts hammered top-seeded Cleveland in Games 2 and 5 in the second round. The C’s are averaging 98.4 ppg (47.8 percent shooting) away from Boston, while giving up 94.1 ppg (44.3 percent shooting).
Orlando is now 38-8 at home (27-18-1 ATS), including 4-1 (3-2 ATS) in the playoffs, outscoring visitors by 12 ppg on the year (104.9-92.9), while shooting 48.3 percent and allowing 43.5 percent. Prior to Sunday’s setback, the Magic had won 11 straight (8-2-1 ATS) and 17 of their previous 18 (13-4-1 ATS) inside Amway Arena.
Along with their 9-3 ATS mark in the postseason, the Celtics are on pointspread upswings of 4-0 overall, 13-4-1 as a playoff pup (4-0 last four), 17-7 when catching five to 10½ points, 5-0 after a day off and 5-1 against the Southeast Division. Still, Boston is 5-9 ATS in its last 14 outings following a SU win.
The Magic remain on a plethora of positive ATS runs, including 23-8-1 overall (13-2 last 15), 7-2-1 at home (all as a chalk), 23-6-1 as a favorite, 7-1 as a playoff chalk and 12-4-1 against winning teams, along with lengthy ATS streaks of 66-32-2 after a SU loss and 65-32-3 after a non-cover. Also, in last year’s six-game upset of the Cavaliers in the conference finals, Orlando went 5-1 ATS.
Orlando sports a bundle of “under” streaks, including 6-2-1 overall (4-1 last five), 13-5-2 at home, 34-16-2 as a favorite, 8-2-1 as a playoff chalk, 38-12-1 after a non-cover, 26-9 after a SU loss and 36-14-1 after a day off. That said, in last year’s conference finals against Cleveland, the over hit in five of the six games.
Boston is on “under” rolls of 8-2 in conference finals contests and 4-1 after a one-day break, but is otherwise on “over” stretches of 6-2 after either a SU or an ATS win and 7-3 on the road against teams with a winning home record.
Finally, in this rivalry, the total has stayed low in eight of the last nine clashes overall, including four of five this season. Also, the under is on a 10-3 tear between these two in Orlando, with Game 1 staying below the posted price.
ATS ADVANTAGE: ORLANDO and UNDER
Game 2, Celtics vs. Magic
By Chris David
Boston closed as a 6 1/2-point underdog in Game 1 on Sunday and Doc Rivers’ club captured a solid 92-88 road victory over Orlando. Those following the contest know that the game wasn’t as close as the final four-point margin. The Celtics led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter and held a 16-point lead (74-58) heading into the final 12 minutes. The Magic made a late charge and cut the gap to three (88-85) but Paul Pierce and Ray Allen both converted a pair of free throws to seal the deal and take the series lead.
Pierce (22) and Allen (25) combined for more than half of Boston’s points in the first installment, plus it got a great effort from Rasheed Wallace (13 points) off the bench, especially on the defensive end. Along with Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis, the savvy veteran frustrated Dwight Howard and banged him hard with nine fouls. The All-Star Center missed a ton of bunnies in the paint and finished with 13 points on 3 of 10 shooting.
Boston’s new-found defensive “Big Three” allowed the team to stick with Orlando’s bombers behind the 3-point land and it worked, as the Magic were just 5-of-22 (22%) from downtown. Everybody knows Orlando lives and dies by the three, evidenced by 89 in its first eight postseason affairs, all wins too.
Stan Van Gundy knows his offense wasn’t great (42%) in Game 1 but the Celtics’ attack wasn’t much better (45%) in the win. What was decent was Orlando’s defense, which held another opponent under 100 points, a mark that hasn’t been topped against this unit in the postseason.
Despite losing at home in Game 1, the oddsmakers still believe that the Magic will knot up the series at 1-1 after Tuesday. Orlando has been listed as a 7 ½-point favorite in Game 2 and a few casinos in Las Vegas pushed the number up to 8.
Orlando hasn’t lost back-to-back home games during the regular season and the last time it’s dropped consecutive games was on Jan. 15, when the club went 1-3 on a West Coast road trip.
Whole those numbers are impressive, so is Boston’s 30-17 SU and 24-22 ATS record on the road, which includes a 4-2 both SU and ATS ledger in the playoffs. And, the Celtics were in both losses against the Heat and Cavaliers, up until the last couple minutes.
So far in this year’s postseason, only one home team has lost Game 1 on their court. The instance happened in the first round when Portland stunned Phoenix 105-100 as a nine-point road ‘dog. In Game 2, the Suns bounced back with an emphatic 29-point win (119-90) at home.
Total players didn’t notice any change in the ‘over/under’ in Game 2, which is hovering between 188 and 189 points. Game 1’s combined 180 points helped the ‘under’ cash for the fourth time in the five meetings between the two. Keep in mind that only 73 points were posted in the first 24 minutes before 107 points was dropped in the second-half and that was with two teams missing the majority of their shots. They were helped by 39 points from the free-throw stripe but even with those freebies, the pace for Boston (74 shots) and Orlando (77 shots) was slow.
Orlando was listed as high as a $3.00 favorite (Bet $300 to win $100) on the series price but that number has dropped as low as minus-110 (Bet $110 to win $100) at most offshore outfits after Game 1’s outcome. If you still feel the Magic have a lot left, then the price is definitely right and the value for the Celtics is long gone.
Game 2 is slated to tip at 8:30 p.m. EDT and ESPN will provide national coverage of this contest.
After this battle, the two clubs will get three days off before the series starts up again in Boston on Saturday night.
vegasinsider.com
NBA RoundUp For 5/18
By Dan Bebe
Celtics @ Magic - Orlando by 7.5 with a total of 188.5. The total isn't that surprising, the side is a little bit. What we saw in the first game was one of the slowest, ugliest halves of basketball in the Playoffs, followed by a pretty normal half with some bonus scoring. 73 points in one half, 107 in the other. So, the total was adjusted down just a tiny bit, and in fact, there are some places where the total might have even been tested at a slightly lower number, and this one, 188.5, was the number where oddsmakers felt they'd get close to even money. I'm intrigued by this total, though, considering we had such a high scoring second half in game one. Does that sort of pace continue? I can't imagine the teams abandon defense, and I believe Orlando plays a slower tempo if they're winning or the game is close. Bottom line, there's a reason this number was left mostly intact, and it's because oddsmakers feel like they have this final score pretty well pegged. A decent shooting night would probably squeeze us up and over the total, though with the way these teams focus on the defensive end, I'm not sure we see a night of significantly better shooting. Tiny lean to the Over. On the side, I hate to say I'm leaning Orlando again, but this number being so strong outweighs a lot of the other notes. I have to say, from a pure match-up standpoint, the Celtics dominated. I think they made one huge mistake and that was giving Orlando some confidence down the stretch. The line tells me to take Orlando, but what I saw with my eyes tells me not to, as Boston was just everywhere they needed to be for the first 42 minutes of game one. I'm a little hesitant to take the Magic, since they really had to fight their butts off for every point. I'm still stroking my metaphorical beard on this one.
NBA News and Notes
Magic lost for first time in playoffs in Game 1, rallying from 20 down to make it close at end; four of five series games this year stayed under the total. Celtics are 5-2 vs spread as playoff road underdog; they're playing with supreme confidence right now. Boston held Magic to 41.6% from floor in Game 1; Wallace chipped in with 13 points in 20:16 off bench. Magic scored 32 points in first half of Game 1, then 26 in 3rd quarter, 30 in 4th quarter- they better come to play from start here. Orlando turned ball over 18 times, was just 5-22 from arc in Game 1. Starting frontcourt of Barnes-Lewis-Howard better not shoot 6-24 from floor again.