Game Two: Boston vs Orlando

Game Two

Orlando won the first game of the series and lead 1-0.

First Quarter

Rondo flies to the rim and hits his second layup of the quarter (other was a layup off a backdoor cut). Pierce also knocked down a three, Rondo with the assist, to give Boston a 7-4 lead. Boston post up Perkins on the left block, he backs down Howard, right hand jump hook, hits it.

Pierce sits down with two fouls, only three and a half minutes into the game, and Stephon comes in to replace him. It’ll be very interesting to see how Boston defend Hedo, and how they manage their offense.

• Perkins with the offensive rebound, missed J by Ray, putback, fouled first. He had 6 points, 16 rebounds and 3 dimes in game one. He makes one of two.
• JJ Redick shoots over Marbury, knocks down the long jumper.
• Dwight Howard does an excellent job running the floor, ahead by at least 10 feet on Perkins, nobody puts a body on him, nobody on the Magic finds him. Redick fires up a three, misses it.
• Rajon Rondo runs on the fastbreak, nice pass to Ray Allen, layup

Boston lead 12-6 after five minutes

• Rajon Rondo gets a friendly bounce on his driving layup
• Scalabrine is defending Hedo (no sorry, that was a switch that I missed). Ray Allen is defending Rashard Lewis, Lewis goes to the post, turnaround J out of the post, misses it … fastbreak Boston, Rondo to Marbury, layup, good.
• Howard pulling down a couple of rebounds, and drops a jump hook in the lane on the other end.
• Hedo Turkoglu posts up Marbury, draws the double team, nice pass out and good ball movement around the perimeter, three pointer on the way, misses
• Two offensive rebounds, a missed tip by Howard, and a two handed dunk by Lewis.

Boston lead 18-10 with four minutes to play in the first quarter

• Perkins with the rejection on Pietrus’ layup. Orlando hang onto the ball, move it to the right corner, three from Pietrus, misses. That makes Orlando 4-17 from the field for 22% shooting.
• Rafer Alston gets the step, acrobatic layup attempt, nope, he passes it out to Redick, and Redick nails a three pointer.
• Ray Allen hits the reverse layup. Boston leads 14-6 for points in the paint.
• Redick left open on the right wing, and hits another three.

Final two minutes — 24-16 Boston lead

• Scalabrine blocks Rafer in the paint, fastbreak Boston, they mess up the pass and lose the opportunity. Rondo over-creates and turns it over, just like Alston did a moment ago.
• Hedo high screen and roll with Dwight on the left wing, Redick in the left corner, his man helps down to cover Dwight rolling to the hoop, Hedo passes it to Redick and he hits his third three of the quarter
• Rajon Rondo snakes into the paint at the final moment, shot clock, and hits the runner. That was an ugly offensive possession for Boston, didn’t get anything going, Rondo had to force it.
• Rafer Alston drives, down the left hand side of the lane, teardrop, hits it!

Second Quarter

Boston have led all the way and by as much as 10 points. They currently lead 26-21.

• Lewis posting up Scalabrine, backing him down effectively, turns baseline, up and under, shoots it, misses, tapped out by Scal, rebound Boston.
• Nice alley oop dunk by AJ to Gortat after AJ drew the defense, and got Gortat open on his way to the rim.
• Hedo gets two FTs after a drive to the rim. Next possession, nice drive and kick by Lewis to Pietrus, but Pietrus misses the open three pointer.
• Scalabrine pops out to the right corner and drains the 22 footer
• Anthony Johnson dribbles around a pick, Boston go under the pick, AJ takes and makes a three to cut it to four.
• Nice pass by Rondo to Glen Davis, layup. Rondo has 8 and 6 already.
• Eddie House drives baseline, layup
• Glen Davis strips Lewis from behind after Rashard ripped down the defensive rebound, Glen takes a bounce, finds the cutter, layup. Davis was out of bounds during the steal, refs missed it.
• House drains a three, sorry two pointer, foot was on a line.

Boston leads 39-28 after five minutes — Paul Pierce picks up his third foul a few moments later, big blow for Boston.

• Both teams exchange a pair of baskets.
• Great defense by Pietrus on Ray’s drive, completely denied the pull up J from 14 feet that Ray loves so much, his length really bothered Ray there.
• Scal and Rashard Lewis swap three pointers — Boston lead 46-35
• Dwight Howard misses a pair of FTs
• Ray Allen catch and shoot, triple from the top of the key, nails it!
• House follows that basket up with a two pointer — 16 point lead

Three minutes left to play — Boston lead 54-37 after a three point play from Perkins

• Kendrick Perkins dunks home the ball after a lovely lead pass from Ray Allen.
• Eddie House on the steal, into the open court, great defense by Alston to body him up on the wing, then trap him after House can’t make up his mind whether to drive or not, House panics, picks up his dribble on the baseline, tries to pass the ball, Alston deflects it, turnover.
• Alston hits a pull up J from the top of the key

The crowd is chanting “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!”

Final minute — Howard backs down Scalabrine, jump hook in the lane, hits it.

Third Quarter

Boston leads 61-46 to start the third

• Glen Davis runs Rashard Lewis off the three, pump fake, Lewis tries to drive by, Davis taps loose the ball, steals it. Great defensive play by Davis.
• Kendrick Perkins hits a jump hook in the lane over Dwight. Boston are up 18 points after three minutes.
• Redick picks up his fourth foul and he sits down …. really? You’re worried about Redick’s foul trouble? Why take him out of the game?
• Ray Allen loses his dribble, turnover, Lewis picks it up. Fastbreak Orlando, Hedo spots up for a three pointer on the left wing, hits it.
• Paul Pierce picks up his fourth foul — eight minutes to go in the period — Paul has only played 10 minutes so far. Doc Rivers chooses to leave him in, good call, Boston need to protect this lead.
• Dwight Howard gets the post up on the left block, faces up Perk, drives baseline and throws down the angry slam dunk
• Paul Pierce gets an isolation against Hedo on the right wing, blows by him, into the paint, fouled on the ground.
• Nice pass by Pierce to Perk, touch pass to a cutting BBD, fouled.

Pierce sits down — 7 minutes to play — Boston lead 67-52 — I thought Doc should have left him in, keep the lead.

• Hedo Turkoglu drive and kick to Rashard Lewis for a good look from three, misses, rebound Perkins.
• Ray Allen puts the moves on Turkoglu, crosses him over, gets the step, into the paint, jumps, switches hands to confuse Dwight, layup, missed, rebound Dwight.
• Orlando are shooting 25% for the quarter, and Boston are hitting 22% of their shots.
• Ray Allen loses his man on the pick, takes the three, hits the three! Timeout Orlando
• Dwight Howard misses a jump hook in the lane out of the timeout, rebound Boston.

Five minutes to play — Boston up 17 points. Boston lead 31-23 on the backboards.

Rajon Rondo has 14 assists, 9 rebounds and 8 points. He’ll have another triple double before this is over. Perkins has 8 boards in just 23 minutes, excellent job from Perk, oh yeah, he has 16 points too. House has 11 points on 5-6 shooting off the pine.

• House bags another jumper, over Pietrus this time, well contested shot off the dribble from 22 feet. Next possession, House hits another three out of the right corner. Boston are on a 9-0 run over the last four minutes.
• Rondo picks up his 10th rebound and has 15 assists now. He just turned the ball over for the first time … talk about a possession creating machine!
• Rajon Rondo drives down the lane and throws down the two handed slam! Triple double!

Boston lead by 23 points with less than two minutes to play in the third — not quite garbage time yet, but Orlando’s players are hanging their heads so I’m thinking a comeback is not happening.

Both teams trading basket — after a House triple, Rafer took a swing at House? I missed the incident, no replay yet. He slapped him on the back of his head as he ran back upcourt. That’ll be a suspension for Rafer. The refs missed the incident but they’ll see it later and include it in their report. House bags another three on the next possession, 23 points in 18 minutes.

Fourth Quarter

• Boston lead 93-67 after two plus minutes.
• Boston lead 95-75 with 6 minutes remaining.
• Boston lead 104-88 with three minutes remaining

Final score — 112-94

Final Thoughts

Terrific games from Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins and Eddie House. Very good games from Scalabrine and Ray Allen too.

Rafer Alston slapped House on the back of the head late in the third but the refs missed the incident during the game. If they had of seen it, it would have been an instant ejection. I think the lack of punishment for Rafer’s ill conceived slap increases the likelihood of a suspension, which would be a huge blow for the Magic in game three.

The Orlando Magic did what they wanted to do — win one of the first two games, go home with the series split, and have homecourt advantage for the remainder of the series — A job well done for Orlando. The Magic shouldn’t worry about this result, or their poor play in the final 18 minutes of game one, just the fact that they accomplished their mission and that they’re exactly where they want to be.