So it goes: Magic 101 , Celtics 82

Posted by Brendan Jackson on May 17, 2009 22563 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F05%2F17%2Fso-it-goes-magic-101-celtics-82%2FSo+it+goes%3A+Magic+101+%2C+Celtics+822009-05-18+02%3A38%3A52Brendan+Jacksonhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D2256

That’s all she wrote folks…

Some quick thoughts from Brian Robb on the action:

Some Bullets on Game 7 as the Celtics season came to a disappointing end

• The Celtics looked like a tired team tonight that had just run out of gas. Orlando played well all night long and withstood all of the Boston runs throughout the first 3 quarters, never letting the C’s get a sniff of the lead before putting it away in the 4th for good.
• Nice to see Ray break out of his slump but did not expect to see Paul Pierce to disappear for the entire 2nd half
• I think the key part of this game was the C’s not attacking Hedo and Dwight Howard in the 3rd quarter when they both had to sit out for a large part of the 2nd quarter due to foul trouble. Howard picked a couple in the 4th and had to sit but it should have been a lot earlier if the Celtics were more aggressive.
• Orlando did not have a great shooting night all series until game 7 so the 62% 3 point shooting for the Magic this evening was the Celtics punishment by playing with fire and not closing the door on this talented team during game 6 when they had the chance
• The bench proved to be one of the team’s fatal flaws tonight and were exposed for a lack of depth and talent.
• Marbury looked shaky all night, 3 unforced turnovers in 1st half.
• Scalabrine couldn’t get his 3 going and looked hesitant at times
• Eddie took his 1st shot of the night halfway through the 4th quarter as Courtney Lee did a phenomenal job of shutting him down.
• Michael Pietrus killed the Celtics during this series. Reminded me of James Posey hitting big 3 after big 3. 17 monster points tonight off of 3/3 shooting
• Hedo Turkoglu was the best player on the floor tonight. All the attention had been on Ray for his poor play, but the Magic marksman had been having a subpar series as well up tonight tonight. With 27 points and 12 assists, he became the go to guy in the 4th the Magic needed to step up and score the final knockout blow against the C’s.
• The Celtics team defense was absolutely abysmal for the 1st half. Way too many breakdowns on pick and roll defenses leaving countless dunks and layups for the Magic thanks to lazy and sloppy rotations. On a night where the Magic were shooting lights out anyway, C’s gave away way too many easy points down low.
• Boston really missed Leon Powe’s rebounding in this series, especially tonight. Big Baby is a good player but he is a terrible defensive rebounder and it showed during pivotal moments tonight. Danny Ainge will have a tough decision to make on him this offseason, but this team needs to get some help for it’s big three if it hopes to contend with Cleveland in the years to come.

That’s all for now, Bryan Roy and Zach Lowe will be back for more analysis through the night and onto tomorrow morning. There will be plenty of time to reflect on this one, but for now, the Garden has hosted to Game 7 losses within three days. It’s a tough night to be a Boston sports fan but it’s important to keep this in perspective and applaud this shorthanded team for putting up a good run this postseason even if it didn’t show tonight.