Stephon Marbury: Lights Celtics Fuse

Akash AMay 13, 2009

The Celtics were down by 11 points with nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter. However, a dominating defense, which gave up just 11 points (including three free throws) in the final nine minutes, propelled Boston to a 92-88 victory.

Stephon Marbury got it started for the C's, and even though he did not play down the stretch, the energy he brought off the bench gave the Celtics' a ray of hope.

Down by 11, Marbury hit a three pointer to push the Magic's lead to single digits. The two teams continued to battle it out, but the Celtics did not have their defensive unit on the floor.The team managed to cut the deficit to seven.

When Paul Pierce, Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo re entered, the defense stepped up. On offense, it was Glen Davis who once again came up huge. He hit a couple hook shots over Dwight Howard, and a couple of jump shots to put the Celtics within four.

Then, Paul Pierce drove to the bucket and softly put the ball in the hoop, around the three Magic defenders who were guarding him. The C's got the defensive stop, and Ray Allen hit the ensuing three point attempt off the pick-and-roll, giving Boston a one-point lead.

Their defense continued to be sturdy, and the C's won the free throw battle, as they did not miss a single attempt in the quarter.

Overall a spectacular win for Boston, because we kept home court advantage and built up a surge of momentum coming out of this game. The dejected Magic will need a huge mental rebound to even think about winning game six.