NBA Game Summary - Boston at Orlando

Orlando, FL (Basketball News) - Steve Francis had 18 points, seven assists and six rebounds to lead the Orlando Magic over the Boston Celtics, 100-91, at TD Waterhouse Centre.

Dwight Howard added 18 points and eight boards for the Magic, who ended a four-game slide. Hedo Turkoglu recorded 15 points, Tony Battie had 14 and DeShawn Stevenson tallied 12, as all five Orlando starters scored in double figures.

Paul Pierce had a game-high 37 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Celtics dropped their fifth straight game. Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak added 13 points apiece for Boston, which got just 14 points from its bench.

After trailing 31-20 after one quarter, Boston rallied to draw within 48-42 at halftime. The Celtics then continued to draw closer in the third. Even though the team trailed the entire stanza, the Celtics ended the frame on a 9-2 burst to cut their deficit to 71-69 going into the fourth.

Brian Scalabrine’s three-pointer in the final seconds of the third capped the burst and got Boston to as close as it had been in a long time.

Orlando, however, began the final 12 minutes with an 11-2 surge to forge ahead by double digits. Keyon Dooling scored the first six points of the burst, which was capped by a Howard three-point play nearly four minutes into the stanza.

The Celtics managed to get as close as five points, 94-89, on a Pierce bucket with 1:50 left, but that was as close as the Magic allowed it to get.

Boston had a chance to make it a one-possession game late, but West missed a transition layup that could have made the score 94-91 with 1:20 remaining.

Dooling ended with 10 points for the Magic, who ended a two-game slide at home.

The Celtics have dropped six straight on the road.