Celtics Up 3-0 in East Finals After 94-71 Drubbing of Magic
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010 | Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA, Orlando Magic, Sports
The Boston Celtics are on cruise control. What an unbelievable post-season run. The Celtics are now just 1 win away from the NBA Finals after a convincing 94-71 win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday night in Boston.
I for one and am amazed at the resurgent Celtics. I thought that the Miami Heat might actually give the Celtics a run for their money like the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls have done in each of the last 2 post-seasons. But the Celtics made easy work of the Heat in just 5 games, and they have been pretty much unstoppable ever since. The Celtics took out the #1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers led by King Lebron James in 6 games – winning twice on Cleveland’s home court. And now they are making the defending East Champion Orlando Magic look like a CYO team from Westchester, New York. It is pretty embarrassing for this Magic team, especially since they were riding a 14-game winning streak (8 straight playoff wins) heading into the Eatsern Conference Finals with the Celtics.
On Saturday, it was much of the same for the Celtics as they raced out to an early 1st quarter lead – 27-12. How does a playoff team score only 12 points in a quarter in a series like this?! Pathetic. By halftime, the lead was 17 points, and the Celtics used a 24-13 3rd quarter edge to increase that lead to 75-47. Game Over! When you have quarters with point totals of 12 and 13, you’re not going to win a lot of games.
The Celtics used a balanced attack and tenacious defense to put the Magic away with ease. Ray Allen had 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Rajon Rondo added 11 points, 3 rebounds and 12 assists. Paul Pierce had 15 points and 9 rebounds, while Kevin Garnett chipped in 10 points and 6 boards. Bench player Glen Davis had his best showing this post-season with 17 points and 6 boards.
The Celtics can advance to the NBA Finals for the 2nd time in 3 years with a win over the Magic on Monday night in Boston.