The Celtics came into the game looking to avenge their earlier loss to the Magic and did so with a solid 103-91 victory. The Celtics led for most of the game with the Magic taking a 3 point lead only once and the Celtics leading by as many as 20. This was the 15th game of the season where the Celtics had a 20 point lead during the game.
Rajon Rondo was the player of the game as he continued his aggressive play of late. He hit a 3 to increase the half time lead to from 4 to 3. He finished with 23 points on 8-10 shooting including his first 2 threes of the season. He also had 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Ray Allen's shooting touch has returned as he scored 22 points on 7-13 shooting to go with 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal.
Pierce finished with 24 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal. He still turns the ball over too much, leading the team with 5 turnovers. I am getting to dread his drives where he plows into a crowd of defenders in the paint. KG had 21 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. Going into the 4th, KG was encouraging the crowd to get into the game. He just does it all. Perk finished with 6 points, 12 rebounds, and 1 assist while playing solid defense in the middle. When Big Baby was in, KG looked over to the bench to encourage Doc to put Perk back in and sure enough Doc got Perk back into the game.
The bench contributed only 7 points and 3 rebounds in this game. They were able to hold the leads when they were in mostly because one of the 3 stars was always out on the floor with the 2nd unit at all times. Pollard finished with 1 point and 1 block. Posey went scoreless but had 2 rebounds and 1 assist. House finished with 2 points and 1 steal. Tony was the most productive off the bench with 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block. Big Baby had a rough game with only 1 rebound and 2 fouls in 3 minutes.
The Celtics shot 52% from the field while holding the Magic to 44%. The Celtics also out rebounded the Magic 38 to 34. They also led the Magic in fast break points 12-5. The Celtics controlled the game most of the time but they did have lapses, allowing the Magic to cut the lead down to 9 a couple of times. They were pretty intense with KG picking up a technical and almost picked up a second when Perk pulled him away. It was ironic that Perk picked up a technical not long after that. The refs were terrible in this game, letting some things go and then calling them a few seconds later and that led to the frustrations.
It was a good win. Now, the Celtics have beaten two of the 3 teams that have beaten them. However, the big test will be how they do on the West Coast trip coming up next week.
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