NBA Game Summary - Boston at Orlando

03.17.2006

Orlando, FL (Basketball News) - Dwight Howard scored 18 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and notched a season-high six blocked shots to lead Orlando past Boston, 84-77, and send the Celtics to their third straight defeat.

Jameer Nelson scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Magic, who have won two in a row. Hedo Turkoglu scored 18 points, grabbed nine boards, and tied his career-high of four steals. Darko Milicic added 10 points.

Paul Pierce scored 19 points for the Celtics, but was just 5-of-18 from the floor. Wally Szczerbiak scored 16 points, and Raef LaFrentz added nine points and nine boards.

Carlos Arroyo made 1-of-2 free throws with 22.1 seconds left to make the score 83-77. Pierce fell short on a three-pointer with 14 seconds left, and Delonte West missed a putback. Turkoglu converted 1-of-2 free throws with nine seconds left to seal the win for Orlando.

"I think this is a feeling that I’ve never had before on the team this year," Nelson said. "We’re pretty much clicking and we understand each other. Even if we make mistakes, our mistakes are aggressive now, as opposed to lackadaisical and mental mistakes. Now, everything really is aggressive. We drive the ball pretty much every play that it’s not going to Dwight. And the only time we really shoot jump shots is off of rotations off their post-up double teams."

The teams were even after one quarter at 20-20.

Boston opened the second quarter with a 10-2 run, capped by a Gerald Green jumper with 8:23 left to take a 30-22 lead. Orlando responded with a 20-7 run to close the stanza, ignited by a Trevor Ariza layup with 6:39 remaining, however, and led 42-37 at halftime.

In the third quarter, Boston took off on a 22-8 run, ended by a reverse layup by Tony Allen with 2:38 to go to lead 61-54. Nelson scored five straight points to close the stanza, and Orlando trailed 61-59 heading into the fourth quarter.

Orlando went on a 17-6 run, culminated by a reverse layup by Turkoglu with 1:47 left to lead 80-72.

Boston shot 3-for-23 from the floor in the fourth quarter.

"We didn’t play well," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "One of the referees said this was one of the ugliest games he’s seen in quite some time. And I told him I agree, but I wanted it to look pretty for us at the end. Unfortunately it didn’t."

The Celtics continued a four-game road trip. They are 0-3 on the trip after suffering a 107-104 loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday night and opening the trip with a loss at Memphis. Boston, which will close out the swing on Sunday at Indiana, is 8-25 away from Beantown this season...The Magic, meanwhile, have won four of their last five games following a six-game losing streak. They have won four straight at home. The Magic will next hit the road for two games at Atlanta and Charlotte. Orlando is 18-14 as the host this season...This was the fourth and final meeting of the season between Orlando and Boston...The Magic are 3-1 after posting wins on November 28 in Boston and February 4 in Orlando. Boston countered with a home victory on February 12...The Celtics have dropped five of seven in Orlando.

Post your comment:

No profanity or inaproppriate remarks. All i.p. addresses will be saved and abuse/hate posts will be reported to providers and authorities as part of the anti-spam act of 2003, thank you for posting comments on the articles only.