Momma There Goes That Man

Yes folks, Dwight Howard and company suffered their first playoff loss on Sunday, courtesy of the Boston Celtics. While Howard was doing his version of the pregame “I’m An Idiot” dance, the Celtics sat back and waited for their opportunity to remind the Magic what the playoffs are really about. And boy they did, taking the Magic to school and picking up right where the left off with Cleveland. The quiet beasts have arisen from their regular season nap and are pouncing on any and every young pup sniffing and pawing in their direction. I couldn’t help but provide some quick visuals of how I would some up the manner in which Boston handled the young, naive and arrogant Orlando Magic. I would say the following two clips do a good job.

this one is more to the point…

All season long the Boston Celtics have just been minding their business. Like the old dude on the bus or the German pimp walking the streets, just going about their way. Then come along these thundercat teams, like Orlando who think they can just roll over Boston cause of their age. But I tell you what, it ain’t gonna happen and here’s why:

The Boston Celtics are the kings of defense and when proper defense is implemented there is no need for double teaming your opponent. Unfortunately, Orlando thrives off of  Dwight Howard being double teamed because it opens up the 3pt shot for them. From there, Dwight is great at kicking out the ball to the open man or when that isn’t an option he can always draw the foul off the double team and go to the line. Now he won’t make more than 50% of those free throws but he’ll have serviced his team by racking up fouls on the opposition’s big men. Everyone on Orlando’s squad can drop 3′s and that’s what makes them so deadly and dominating to most teams. The Magic are used to this pattern and has gotten comfortable with the notion that they can sit back and pick their shots behind the arc cause someone will always be open. But this is not so with Boston because good ‘ol Danny Ainge made sure that this particular Boston roster was custom tailored to take on the Orlando Magic more so than the Cavaliers during the postseason. The Celts are deep when it comes to hefty big men so they can all take turns banging with Dwight. Sheed already seems to own Howard down on the post and the crafty vet is able to do it by being scrappy and psychological, exactly what Boston needs from him in this series. The minutes Sheed racked up gave plenty of rest for Perk and his knees and cut deep into the mind of Orlando’s immature meal ticket.

Tonight, look for Orlando to try to make the necessary adjustments of rotating the ball quicker with their swing passing around the arc and for Howard to step up and create his own shots in the paint. On the Celtics’ side, look for Pierce to become more aggressive earlier in the game and  for the bigs to get even more physical with Howard down in the paint. This is gonna be a great series and a physical one at that. But Dwight is too immature and one-dimensional to carry the Magic to The Finals on his own. At this point, I think he’s still surprised and offended that the Celtics refuse to double team him.

Dave E. Gold

(theg0at)