The Celtics Dominate the Terrible Magic with a 120-88 Victory

The Boston Celtics are officially the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. With their dominant 120-88 win tonight against the Orlando Magic, Boston now is locked in place for the playoffs.

Jason Terry was unable to backup his "the Magic are terrible" statement, but the rest of the team did.

The C's were led by strong performances by virtually everyone tonight. Seven players scored in double-figures, including all five starters.

Both Brandon Bass and Courtney Lee had a very strong nights against their former team. With a combined 34 points on 13-of-17 shooting, they were able to aid the Celtics to victory.

After struggling in the first quarter, Avery Bradley finished with a very strong game. He had 14 points and only one turnover, but his defense was outstanding tonight and played a large part in the Celtics holding the Magic to a low shooting percentage through three quarters. Bradley and Kevin Garnett's efforts contributed to forcing 20 Orlando turnovers.

Jeff Green also showed no ill-effects of his bruised elbow that he suffered last game. He finished with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. He only shot 6-of-17 but a couple of those misses came on a possession when he was fighting hard for an offensive put back.

Game Recap

Boston got off to a fast start tonight, with a 9-to-0 run to start the game. However, sloppy play and turnovers allowed Orlando to sneak back into the game, trailing 23-17 after the first quarter.

The second quarter was all Boston, as their defense absolutely suffocated the Orlando Magic. Almost every time the Magic had the ball, they struggled to get off a quality shot, which led to a 32.6 team shooting percentage at half. Terrible. Led by Paul Pierce's dynamic play, Brandon Bass' rebounding, and Kevin Garnett's stifling defense and leadership, the Boston Celtics led 57-27 at half.

Boston continued what it started in the third quarter, starting with a 6-to-0 run to start the half. Strong quarters by Brandon Bass, Avery Bradley and Paul Pierce helped Boston extend the lead to 21 after three, leading 85-64.

The Celtics played their bench for basically the entire fourth quarter. Even DJ White and Terrence Williams were able to some time on the court too. Boston pushed the lead to 37 on multiple occasions, ending the game with a score of 120-88.

For those who would like a more in-depth look at the game, or for those that were unable to watch the game, here is a breakdown hitting on the key moments from tonight's game:

Quarter by Quarter Breakdown

First Quarter

• The Celtics started out quickly with a 9-to-0 run.
• Shavlik Randolph was the first player off the bench, substituting at the 6:29 mark...but Chris Wilcox came into the game for him less than a minute later, at the 5:43 mark. Randoph was unable to front Tobias Harris after fouling him because he established perfect positioning on him on the low post.
• Paul Pierce reached 24,000 points at the 4:24 mark of the first quarter. He is the 20th NBA player in history to reach this mark.
• Avery Bradley had an up and down first quarter, finishing with four points, zero assists and four turnovers. He had one good play that came at the 6:29 mark when he received an outlet pass and motored the ball up the court to draw a foul to get to the line. However he had two horrible alley-oop passes that ended up as turnovers.
• Boston led 23-17 after the quarter. The lead likely would've been larger had Boston not had six turnovers. Jeff Green led with five points and five rebounds.

Second Quarter

• Courtney Lee and Kevin Garnett jumpstarted the Celtics with eight quick points to start the quarter.
• This lead to a flurry of plays by Paul Pierce to push the lead even more. After a slow first quarter, The Truth went into halftime with ten points, six assists and four rebounds.
• Speaking of Pierce, one of the highlights of a quarter was a heads-up alley-oop pass to Jeff Green at the 7:30 mark to extend Boston's lead to 16. Green just continues to show how athletic he is.
• Boston's 15-to-0 run in the middle of the quarter is really what turned around the game for them. From 11:07 to 6:24, Orlando was unable to make a single basket. The C's incredible defense created a lot of easy chances for them in transition.
• Brandon Bass made a great block on a shot by Beno Udrih and followed that up with a quick outlet pass to Jordan Crawford who went hard to the rim and scored. Bass has been blocking a lot of shots lately, but his quick outlet pass to Crawford was even more impressive. He made up for it a minute later with a jump shot from the elbow.
• Avery Bradley stole the ball from Udrih as he tried to bring the ball across halcourt in the final two minutes of the period but was unable to convert the layup.
• Jordan Crawford had one of his crazy layups with 24 seconds left in the period. He celebrated a bit too much and was called for a technical foul, but it was worth it. He quietly had an effective half, with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.
• Brandon Bass capped off his sensational first half with a put back slam to give the Celtics their biggest lead of the game, 20. At the half, Boston led 57-37 and Bass had ten of those points, with three offensive rebounds (four total) and three blocks.

Third Quarter

• The Celtics once again got off to a strong start with six quick points.
• Kevin Garnett made some really nice baskets this quarter, including a fade away from right inside the three-point line.
• But with a 22 point lead, Garnett was removed from the game for Chris Wilcox at the 7:09 point of the quarter.
• Even without Garnett on the floor, Boston's defense was sensational versus the Orlando Magic. Nothing came easy for Orlando.
• Chris Wilcox had two loud dunks this quarter. Doc Rivers definitely wasn't happy with Shavlik Randolph in the first half and Wilcox is seizing the opportunities he's receiving with solid defense and timely plays on offense.

Fourth Quarter

• Garnett returned to the game for three minutes to start the period. He played only 18 minutes but was sensational in is time on the floor. He had 14 points and nine rebounds, along with his terrific defense.
• Terrence Williams had a nice start this period, stealing the ball from E'Twaun Moore, and following that up with five points.
• Courtney Lee joined the party this quarter, He scored 15 points with two steals and two assists in this quarter alone. He reached 20 points on a dunk from a nice pass from Jordan Crawford in transition.
• After Randolph was removed from the game after one minute in the first quarter, he finally made an appearance in garbage time with less than two minutes to go.

Other Notes

• Orlando never led this game. The biggest lead of the game was 37 at the 3:27 mark of the fourth quarter. Boston led 115-78 at the time.
• Paul Pierce reached 24,000 points at the 4:24 mark of the first quarter. He ended the game with 12 points, eight assists and six rebounds in only 27 minutes of work.
• After six turnovers in the first quarter, Boston finished the game with only 13. It was nice to see the team really get dialed in.
• Brandon Bass had a very strong game against his former team. He finished with 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting, with five rebounds and three blocks.
• So did Courtney Lee. He had 20 points tonight.
• Boston started out each quarter with a run. 9-0 in the first, 8-0 in the second, 6-0 in the third, and 8-0 in the fourth.
• There was a scare late in the third quarter, when Jeff Green took a hit to the hip by Doron Lamb. After a timeout, Green remained on the floor and was moving fine.
• Jason Terry was right...the Orlando Magic sure are terrible.