I thought the first Celtics-Magic game this week was about as crazy as it gets; and then last night happened. Pure insanity. Boston went into Orlando still missing Ray and Rondo, and without starting center Jermaime O’Neal as well. The Magic clearly had revenge on their minds while building an early 52-25 lead. But then it turned into Monday night all over again, as Boston outscored them 66-31 the rest of the way to win 91-83. The Celtics finished the game on a 44-15 run. Boston’s 27 point comeback was their biggest in any game over the past 16 years.
Orlando added to the list of dubious team records set in the previous game by blowing a 21 point halftime lead, the largest they’ve let slip away in franchise history. On Monday the Magic had just 3 field goals in the 4th quarter; amazingly last nightthey had only 2. I don’t know how to research that, but it’s got to be some sort of record. However, I do know that the 45 combined second half points allowed by the Celtics (20 Monday, 25 Thursday) in back to back games is an NBA record for the shot clock era.
I’d also like to thank Dwight Howard for personally bringing Kevin Garnett back from the dead this week. For the second straight game KG made “Superman” look soft.
And finally, if you’d already followed me on twitter you could have known about all of these great stats last night; and also seen this tweet from Doc Rivers’ son Austin, who is a freshman and Duke and one of the best pro prospects out there:
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About Mark Vandeusen