2009 NBA Playoffs: Game 7 - Orlando Magic 101 Boston Celtics 82 (Highlights)

Game 7: Orlando Magic 101 Boston Celtics 82

Analysis: This game is proof that Dwight Howard getting the ball at the end of games has no effect on whether the Magic can win or lose. It SHOULD have an effect, because truth be told, Dwight Howard should be dominating games, but he has no post moves. He's a great weapon to have on the defensive end, but offensively the Magic might as well just have Emeka Okafor out there. In fact, Okafor might be a little better downlow than Howard is. The point is that the Magic win with defense and three-point shooting. The defense is almost always solid, but the three-point shooting comes and goes. In this game, the three-point shooting was there in a big way with Orlando hitting 13 threes. That's a death sentence for any team playing them. In fact, the Orlando Magic are 42-4 in the regular season and now 3-0 in the postseason when they score 100 or more points. If you hit 13 threes in a game, there is a great chance that you are going to score over 100 points. Boston had no chance in this one when you factor that in.

Key Players of The Game

Hedo Turkoglu: 9 of 12 from the field, including 4 of 5 from three. He finished with a team-high 25 points and also had 12 assists and 5 rebounds. If he played for the Celtics instead of the Magic, he would be all over SportsCenter right now. Turkoglu deserves major props for his Game 7 performance.

Mickael Pietrus: 6 of 7 off the bench, including 3 of 3 from downtown for 17 points. It seemed like everytime the Celtics were about to get close either he or Turkoglu nailed a big shit.

Dwight Howard: Howard's defense downlow was able to keep the Celtics from getting to the basket as often as they wanted to. He finished 5 of 9 from the field with 12 points, 16 rebounds, and blocks and the Magic were +26 when he was on the floor.

Paul Pierce: The Magic did a great job on Pierce in this series defensively. You have to believe that Pierce would have liked to score more in this series, but the Magic consistently made it tough for him to get good looks. He finished this game with just 16 points on 4 of 13 shooting.

Ray Allen: Allen finally had a solid game after struggling for the last couple games. He finished with 23 points on 9 of 18 shooting.



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