So much for momentum. As expected, the Magic were jacked up on their home court and came out gunning. The Celtics didn't help themselves by playing poor defense and shooting poorly.
It is hard to win a playoff basketball game when...
- Ray Allen goes 3-13.
- Anthony Johnson heads into halftime as the best player on the court.
- all your big men get into foul trouble (playing against Dwight Howard)
- you let the other team shoot 60% from the field
It goes down as a minor footnote, but the Celtics did mount a mini-comeback in the 3rd quarter to pull within 9 points but once again, that's not worth much if you are down 20 points to begin with.
By the way, the post season trend continues and we have to wait a day or so to see if the league decides to suspend Perkins for his forearm to the throat move. Hard to believe that is what he intended to do, but I'm not sure that matters. Take him out for a game and what hope do we have against Howard? Cross your fingers.
So now the Magic have the series lead, home court advantage, and have taken back "momentum" (for what it is worth). Now they get Alston back and have a chance to go up 3-1 if they can win another home game.