Magic-Celtics: Orlando Wins, But Boston Loses With Swagger

The Celtics lost Monday night, but it’s fine.

Ray couldn’t find his range all game; Rajon Rondo didn’t play near to the level that he's been playing at; and after blowing a 28 point lead, the Magic finally escaped with a five point win against a depleted Celtics team. 

It was an embarrassing win at that. If Ray Allen makes that three with 43 seconds left, the one that bounced around every inch of the rim, there is no way they don’t win that game.

But even before that, they had played an equivalent of 7.75 games against the Bulls that ended Saturday, while Orlando’s series ended Thursday with their best player getting a nice rest. 

Dwight Howard was twittering away with family while game six was going on and his teamed cruised to an easy victory (the 76ers should be ashamed for years after squandering that opportunity).

All the while, the Celtics were in overtimes not knowing if they’d even be playing. They are extremely fatigued and on one days rest.

The Orlando Magic will not beat the Celtics and are not a championship contender team, yet. 

I realize it's the NBA—where anything can happen.  However, in game one of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against a team limping into the game, you're up 28 points and then almost lose?  That doesn’t seem like a championship contender team to me. 

Could you see the Lakers doing it at Houston? The Cavs blowing it in Atlanta? Even these KG-less Celtics would not let that happen in Orlando. It’s the mind of a champion and it extends farther than a win or a loss. 

The Magic were playing scared, waiting for the game to be over. Stan Van Gundy pointed out in his postgame interview that “we were just trying to run out the clock.” 

Championship contender teams don’t do that. These teams (LA, Cleveland, San Antonio, and Boston) win big-lead (20 points in the second half) games by 30 because they know they are better than you—it’s a swagger of a champion.

Boston showed that swagger in a loss. If there were two minutes left in that game, Boston wins. If Rondo doesn’t throw in at Ray Allen’s leg with a minute left on a critical possession, they win. If Ray hits that shot, Boston wins. 

They fought back into the game and made it known that had they showed up for the entire game, it would not have been close. Their message was sent to the Magic, and for Orlando’s sake, I hope they heard it because these Celtics are going to come at them very hard. 

Doc Rivers knows they played only 16 minutes of decent basketball and almost won.

Especially at home, you see it too many times to count. An inferior team takes a big lead and the home team comes minutes away from the dramatic comeback and usually wins. 

It is hard to hold a lead, I get that. The point is that championship contenders do. 

Down 19 points the third, I took my first bet from a buddy nicknamed after a city (think D-wade, Tim Hardaway, and gorgeous women), 10:1 odds that the Celtics would win. 

Immediately, I took it, and I was just a bad turnover from Rondo or a three-pointer from Ray away from being one hundred dollars richer.

You could feel like the champion was coming out at any point. All they needed was any play to ignite the crowd and get the ball rolling. 

The Magic got tentative, and the Celtics started finding a good rhythm. The Celtics were invited, they RSVP’d, but they just came to the party a little too late.

All that being said, the Celtics win this type of game eight out of 10 times. So do the Lakers. So do the Cavs. So do the Spurs.

It’s the swagger about them.