This summer, 3QC will take a look back on each Magic player's 2007-2008 season. The first nine posts will evaluate, on an individual basis and in alphabetical order, the players who played in at least 20% of the team's total minutes; the final post will briefly evaluate the five players who appeared in less than 20% of the team's minutes.

Today, our focus is Jameer Nelson.

Unfortunately for him, most NBA observers will remember Jameer Nelson's 2007/2008 season as the one in which he guaranteed the Magic would win the fourth game against the Detroit Pistons in the second round of the playoffs. As we saw, both Nelson and his team failed to back up that tough talk, and the Pistons ended the Magic's season a few days later in Detroit. It's a darn shame, too. For all the undeserved flak he took for his guarantee -- my friend Matt Moore from Hardwood Paroxysm, usually even-tempered, wrote, "Jameer Nelson, I hate you," after the fact -- Jameer still had a pretty good season and proved (to me, anyway) he has what it takes to start for a championship-caliber team.

Obviously, that's not to say he was perfect. He turned the ball over on 17.4% of his possessions, the worst mark of any Magic player this season )and the worst of his career). Nelson, the fourth option on offense, seemed almost overeager to defer to his more scoring-inclined teammates, throwing passes into heavy traffic. He's at his best when he probes the lane a la Steve Nash, lulling defenders to sleep before lobbing the ball to Dwight Howard for a dunk; he's at his worst when he dribbles around the perimeter looking to make a play when he should instead get the ball to Hedo Turkoglu.

But if there's one thing that makes Nelson the ideal point guard for this team, it's his three-point shooting. Jameer drilled 52% of his treys after the All-Star break, most of them wide-open as a result of Turkoglu's penetration. If the Magic try to capitalize on Turkoglu's trade value this summer, Nelson may be the beneficiary of higher assist totals since Stan Van Gundy will want the ball in his hands more often; unfortunately, he'll also lose the open three-point looks that make this offense go. It's a wash.

Defensively, Nelson is a virtual zero. It's not that he lacks effort -- you can accuse Nelson of many things, but laziness isn't one of them -- but rather athleticism and height. What I'm about to say may sound harsh, but it's true: he's not cut-out to defend NBA-quality point guards. He's usually able to keep his man in front of him, but it just doesn't matter. Even if opponents can't get around Nelson, they can still shoot over his 5'11" frame (6'00" with shoes). The unofficial list of players who scored season-highs against the Magic in 2007/2008 is filled with point guards whom most average defenders could contain (Rajon Rondo, Darrell Armstrong, Anthony Carter, and Jason Williams immediately spring to mind).

So why do I like Jameer? Because he makes plays; because he's a leader; because, at 26, he hasn't yet entered his prime; and because he's reasonably priced at a little over $7 million a year. Nelson isn't going to make any All-Star teams, but he will provide value at the point guard spot for the Howard/Rashard Lewis Era.

For those readers who are curious: yes, I am cutting Nelson a bit of a break for his early- and mid-season struggles. His father, a welder at a shipyard, died unexpectedly last summer and Nelson needed some time to get his head straight, even spending one game against Charlotte on the Inactive List for a mental break. I have no doubt the rest he gets this summer, along with his natural development as a player, will help him perform at his best next season. He'll prove his doubters wrong.

This summer, 3QC will take a look back on each Magic player's 2007-2008 season. The first nine posts will evaluate, on an individual basis and in alphabetical order, the players who played in at least 20% of the team's total minutes; the final post will briefly evaluate the five players who appeared in less than 20% of the team's minutes.

Today, our focus is Carlos Arroyo.

Going into the season, all the Magic expected from Carlos Arroyo was that he play smart, steady basketball backing up Jameer Nelson. For the most part, they got that. He did what was asked of him, and sometimes came up big when it counted. His performance in two of his twenty starts this year particularly stand out.

In a December game versus Charlotte, Arroyo started for Nelson, who was injured. The Bobcats, and Jason Richardson in particular, got to a hot start and looked ready to blow-out the Magic in Orlando. But Arroyo, playing within the flow of the offense, answered each of the Bobcats' baskets with one of his own. In the first 6:43 of the game, Arroyo totaled 8 points and 2 assists, and the Magic ended the period trailing by only one point. They ended up winning the game by 9.

In a March game against New York, Arroyo was the only point guard in uniform, with Nelson and Keyon Dooling nursing injuries. Arroyo shone during Latin Night with 13 points and 8 assists, taking the pressure off Hedo Turkoglu, the Magic's only other healthy playmaker. Turk scored 25 points of his own and the Magic won in a rout.

But Arroyo isn't without his flaws. Rajon Rondo abused him defensively in the Magic's dramatic 96-93 over Boston in January, forcing him to commit 6 turnovers, including the one that lead to Ray Allen's game-tying trey in transition. And, although Arroyo played more under-control this year, he still shot too early in the shot clock (39% of his shots were within the first 10 seconds of a possession) and took too many jumpers (77% of his shots, although that's down from 81% last season). His solid yet unspectacular play, taken into account with his age (29), salary ($4 million last season), and dropping off the face of the earth (7 DNP-CD's in February, virtually no significant minutes the rest of the season) makes it unlikely the Magic retain him.

Yes, I originally gave Arroyo a B-, but upon further consideration, I realized I was too generous. If Arroyo's performance this year is a B-, well, almost everyone else's would be an A.

First one of these posts in a while...

• There's a Tim Povtak-penned article in the print version of this morning's Orlando Sentinel regarding this week's pre-draft camp and, to a lesser extent, the Magic's draft strategy. He spoke to Magic assistant GM Dave Twardzik for some insight. Here are a few pertinent quotes:

  "In all likelihood, we'll probably stay where we are [at 22]. And there is a chance our guy could be here [at the camp]," Twardzik said. "But there is a better chance that he won't be."

  [....]

  The Magic are expected to conduct personal interviews and private workouts at the RDV Sportsplex with a handful of players immediately after the draft camp. Twardkzik said the Magic likely will take the best player available at 22, regardless of position.

  Question: if the best player available is a point guard, will the Magic still draft him, despite their glaring need for a true power forward? Honestly, I don't think I care. The Magic haven't drafted well and it's unlikely anyone of consequence will still be on the board when the Magic pick. I've yet to form an opinion regarding whom the Magic should pick because, well, I don't watch college basketball. Based on the scouting reports, I favor Brandon Rush and his "high baskeball I.Q."

• I updated the Mock Draft Watch page today. Incredibly, ESPN's Chad Ford has us selecting Bill Walker, a small forward from Kansas State. Um, what? With Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu -- the third and second options on offense, respectively -- already manning that position, the Magic would be mad to draft another one, unless he can also play shooting guard.
• Tom Ziller breaks down the "pure point" vs. "combo guard" debate (using stats and graphs!) and asserts that no one kind is "better" than the other. Three of the four point guards still playing (Chauncey Billups, Tony Parker, and Rajon Rondo) are combo guards and the other (Derek Fisher) is a small two-guard. Conclusion? Assists are overrated.
  • And here's an interesting note for Jameer Nelson detractors: using this scale, he's a "purer" point guard than Kirk Hinrich, T.J. Ford, Billups, and even Devin Harris, among others. Of course, as Ziller notes, "purity" has nothing to do with "quality," but it dispels the notion that Nelson is a shameless, selfish gunner of a PG whom the Magic need to dump immediately. Nelson's not on the graph, but here are the raw data Ziller used.
• Bethlehem Shoals and co. announced today that their book, FreeDarko presents The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Style, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game, is available for pre-order on Amazon.com. If you're a basketball geek (and you'd have to be to read my site, frankly) you owe it to yourself to order this book now.

Hedo Turkoglu's most recent game-winning play for the Magic this season, a tough driving layup to beat the Raptors in Game Two.

Hedo Turkoglu is the NBA's Most Improved Player.

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reported the news earlier today. The Magic have called a news conference for tomorrow afternoon but haven't specified a reason. The award is indeed Hedo's, and deservedly so (no disrespect intended to Rudy Gay, Rajon Rondo, or Andrew Bynum).

We outlined how awesome Turk is in this post last week, but let's go over some stats: Turk set career highs in points per game (19.5), rebounds per game (5.7), assists per game (5.0), minutes per game (36.9), field goal percentage (.456), and games played (82, and he started all of them). Regarding advanced metrics, Turk had a career-best in Player Efficiency Rating (17.8) and effective field goal percentage (.524). Additionally, he was one of four players to average 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists this season, joining Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Vince Carter. Yeah, and we laughed at him when he told the Sentinel in November he thought he could be an All-Star.

We'd like to congratulate Hedo for winning this coveted award, and thank him for playing so well for us this season. Hopefully, he'll celebrate the achievement by helping us dispatch the Raptors. It'd be a fitting way for us to advance in the playoffs.

File photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

Let's praise Hedo Turkoglu.

The NBA named Turk the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for April; Kobe Bryant received the Western award. It's Turk's first-ever Player of the Month award, although he won Player of the Week twice earlier this season.

He's gotten a lot of love lately, that Hedo Turkoglu:

• Lang Whitaker of SLAM, who has an official NBA awards ballot (that is to say, his opinion counts), voted Turkoglu as the NBA's Most Improved Player. The decision was, in his words, "a gimme."
• Bill Simmons has him and Dwight Howard in a tie in 11th for NBA MVP. He put Turkoglu in the starting lineup of his All-Hombre team along with Steve Nash, Bryant, LeBron James, and Rasheed Wallace.
• He received 9 votes for Most Improved Player from ESPN's panel of 20 experts; the runner-up was Boston's Rajon Rondo, with 3 votes.
• He scored 487 points in fourth quarters, which is 30.4% of his total points. His 6.2 points per fourth quarter is seventh in the NBA this season, according to 82games.
• T. Jose Caldeford calls him "Mr. Under the Radar" and worries the Raptors may not be able to stop him.

Check out this neat profile of Turk from Stan McNeal of The Sporting News. And here, we expressed our outrage over Turk's exclusion from the Eastern Conference All-Star team, then made the case that he should have taken Joe Johnson's place.

As promised, here's my recap. I had too many things to do yesterday after the game to write it yesterday.

What a game. I guess it's not a Magic win unless it involves coughing-up a double-digit lead, but obviously, we're happy with the result.

Kelly Dwyer writes the following in his Behind the Boxscore post today: "I mean, at home, and with Kevin Garnett on the bench, the Magic should be beating the Celtics. And probably by more than three points."  That's true. The win certainly could have been -- and should have been -- more decisive. But between Rajon Rondo's suffocating defense and the team's inexplicable reluctance to throw the ball to Dwight Howard late in the game, it's remarkable we even won at all.

Celtics fans, as you can see in the comments section of this post on CelticsBlog, took issue with the officiating yesterday. From my vantage point in the upper bowl, the game was called fairly on both sides. I respect that what was a foul on one end was also a foul on the other end, I respect that Paul Pierce and Hedo Turkoglu were allowed to defend each other physically and without penalty, and I respect that no ticky-tack fouls were called down the stretch.

What Boston's defeat really comes down to is the Celtics having plenty of chances -- the Magic turned the ball over 20 times for 22 31 Celtic points -- and still not being able to win. Furthermore, the Celtics had a 13-8 rebounding advantage after the first period, but ended the game with a five-rebound deficit. The Celtics, even without Kevin Garnett, should have been able to rebound better than they did, so they can also point to that as a reason they lost.

Even if we had lost this game, I would have been pleased with the individual efforts.

• Rashard Lewis was invisible offensively, but worked harder for rebounds than I ever recall him doing.
• Keith Bogans might have been the goat had we lost, as he left Ray Allen wide-open in the left corner when Allen made his game-tying trey, but he also played hard; I counted three loose balls he chased down for us.
• Brian Cook and Maurice Evans combined for 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-6 on three-pointers, making the Ariza trade look pretty good.
• And Dwight Howard didn't score too much -- 18 points is below his season average -- but he made up for it with five highlight-reel blocked shots. The Magic are 21-2 this season when Dwight has 3 swats or more, and it's probably not a coincidence.

Perhaps the most telling example of how focus and team-wide effort played a role in our victory was our free-throw shooting: 19-of-20, or 95%. Outstanding.

Some final notes on the Celtics:

• Celtics fans do not appreciate Hedo Turkoglu.
  • Shamrock Headband called his game-winner "fairly preposterous."
  • Red's Army "hates it" when the Celtics lose because of "the BS 'wait until no time is left, take a crappy shot' play."
  • For what it's worth, the shot looked good all the way, and was nothing-but-net. Pierce defended Turkoglu well and forced him to take a difficult shot, but it wasn't a bad shot.
• Matt from Hardwood Paroxysm doesn't appreciate Celtics fans' disrespect of Turk, and wrote them a brief letter.  Here's an excerpt:

  Dear Boston fans,
  We're sincerely happy that you've turned around your team [....] But seriously. Enough is enough. If it was Paul Pierce/Ray Allen/Rajon Rondo that hit that three pointer yesterday fading away with a Magic player in his face, there'd be nothing but "What a magical player!" and "What a great shot by a great Celtics!" and "I wish Ray Allen would defecate on me!". But because it was the other guy, it was "lucky"? Come, now. You're better than that.

  Matt also emailed me during yesterday's game to inform me about how pro-Celtics the ABC announcing crew of Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown was. Apparently, after a Pierce layup over Howard, Hubie exclaimed, "In your face!" Anyone else care to weigh in on the announcing yesterday?

• Teams like Phoenix and Golden State go into a special gear on offense sometimes, when it seems like they just cannot miss a shot. Boston is the only team in the league, at least that I've seen, that can go into that special gear on the defensive end. When the Celtics were in a full- or half-court press, we had a difficult time just getting a shot off. Frequently, Keyon Dooling or Hedo Turkoglu would be double-teamed with the ball 35 feet away from the basket with just 8 seconds left on the shot clock. Yeah, good luck with that.
• If I'm building a team from scratch, I really want Rajon Rondo on it. It's not just that he came up with 6 steals and played great defense; it's that he did it with effort and skill, not with dirty play. He's also freakishly athletic; one of Dwight's credited field-goals was actually a shot the 6'1" Rondo rejected at its apex, resulting in a goaltend. It was unbelievable, and if he had swatted it cleanly, the highlight would have been on ESPN forever.
• Perhaps the Celtics would have rebounded better if Doc Rivers opted to play Glen Davis, the 6'8", 300-pound rookie forward. Although he would've had trouble guarding Rashard Lewis, he also would have made a big difference on the glass. He's 5th among rookies and 60th overall in rebounding rate (14.2) and would have punished the Magic with put-backs on Boston misses. His DNP-CD, coupled with Brian Scalabrine's astonishing ineffectiveness (22 minutes, 1 point, 1 rebound), must have been vexing for Celtics fans.

The Magic went 3-1 last week and are 5-2 since that disastrous West-coast road trip ended. It's important for us to realize, though, that we just as easily could have been 1-3 last week, and that this team still has not turned the corner. However, it is encouraging that, as Stan Van Gundy pointed out in his post-game news conference, the team only played one quarter of bad basketball this week. It makes me wonder how good we'll be if Rashard Lewis ever awakens offensively.

	vs.
27-18		34-7
Amway Arena
1:00 PM
ABC
Probable starters:
Carlos Arroyo	PG	Rajon Rondo
Maurice Evans	SG	Ray Allen
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Paul Pierce
Rashard Lewis	PF	Kevin Garnett
Dwight Howard	C	Kendrick Perkins

Boston is fresh off a one-point victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, after which Kevin Garnett celebrated by popping his jersey. Not many people appreciated the gesture, considering the Celtics should have beaten the Timberwolves by about 78 points based on the talent disparity. But whatever. Ticket was excited to beat his former team.

The Celtics have the league's best record, but they certainly aren't invincible. The Timberwolves actually lead down the stretch in that last game, but fumbled it away in the final minute; the Wizards beat them twice in one weekend; the Bobcats beat them once and were one errant inbounds pass from doing it another time; and we handed them their first loss of the season on this very floor. We can take 'em, but not if we play the same crappy defense that allowed the Pistons to hang 39 first-quarter points on us last time out.  

If you're interested, there is a bevy of Celtics blogs on the series of tubes. My personal favorites are Green Bandwagon and CelticsBlog.

Ignore what your ticket says the game time is, fans: ABC picked this game up a few weeks ago and tipoff has been moved up from 7 PM to 1 PM. Go Magic.

The Celtics' Kevin Garnett put Carlos Arroyo and his Magic teammates in their place on Sunday night in a 103-91 victory for Boston.
Photo by Brian Babineau, NBAE/Getty Images

Orlando had no answer for Boston's three-headed monster of Ray Allen (22 points), Kevin Garnett (21 points), and Paul Pierce (24 points) as the Celtics defeated the Magic by a final score of 103-91. Rajon Rondo became the second second-year Magic opponent in as many games to set a career-high in scoring, chipping in 23 points and his first two three-pointers of the season to help his team. Here's the boxscore.

The Magic showed heart and hustle, to borrow a term from the franchise's past, in last night's game. Even down double-digits in the third quarter, they refused to mail in the rest of the game; that is to say they continued to play hard. That much is admirable. However, Boston showed its superiority by outclassing Orlando in nearly every phase of the game.

We just don't have what it takes to match up with an elite team like Boston. We're a second-tier team. We don't have the offensive weapons to overcome allowing four of the opposing team's starters to score 20-plus points. And it wasn't like we were playing poor defense; sure, we left Ray Allen a little too wide-open a few times, but most of the shots the Celtics hit came with an Orlando defender running right at them.

I'm at a loss. Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis continue to play poorly, and the Dwight Howard/Hedo Turkoglu tandem can only carry us so far... like, say, the first round of the playoffs, maybe? It's clear that this team is not nearly as good as its 16-4 suggested it would be, and changes need to be made. Seven losses in nine games is cause for concern.

Thankfully, we have a fairly light schedule ahead: New York (8-19, last in the Atlantic Division), Miami (8-19, last in the Southeast Division), Charlotte (10-15, second-to-last in the Southeast Division), and Chicago (9-16, last in the Central Division) are our opponents in the next week. With a good showing, we can go 4-0 and recoup some of the games we lost in this past stretch, during which we went 2-4. However, that's what we said when we saw Indiana, Atlanta, and Memphis on the schedule two weeks ago, and that didn't turn out well at all.

Going with wordmarks instead of logos in the chart today. Let's see if that can change our luck a little bit...

	vs.
21-3		18-10
TD Banknorth Garden
6:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Rajon Rondo	PG	Jameer Nelson
Ray Allen	SG	Keith Bogans
Paul Pierce	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Kevin Garnett	PF	Rashard Lewis
Kendrick Perkins	C	Dwight Howard

Just like the last time these two teams met, Jim of Green Bandwagon and I have exchanged questions for one another to answer. You can read my answers to his questions here. Here are my questions, in bold, followed by his responses:

1. Recently, former NBA guards Gary Payton and Travis Best have expressed an interest in joining the Celtics. Are you flattered or infuriated by their statements? And would you rather have Payton, Best, or another free-agent point guard on your roster come playoff time?
Their statements are not infuriating. In fact it is encouraging to see guys want to play in Boston. Call it the KG effect. Shortly after he came to town Eddie House, Scot Pollard (for better or worse) and James Posey signed on board. Even Reggie Miller considered it. Best and Payton are just the two latest veterans to show interest. Also it is clear that House is better at catching and shooting than playing the back up point, particularly against good teams. Furthermore, the Celtics have two open roster spots. Finally, deep down Celtics fans want Sam Cassell to get bought out and join the Celtics (Bill Simmons' idea originally I think). Yes he has the potential to disrupt chemistry. But so does Payton and Cassell still has something left in the tank. I just don't want to see Rajon Rondo get lost in the process. It turns out it is much easier to play arm chair general manager and demand the Celtics get a back up point guard than it is to actually name who it should be.

2. The Celtics have lost three times this year: a close one against the Magic, who were playing well at the time; an overtime game against LeBron and his Cavaliers; and a close one against the Pistons. Which loss was most infuriating? And does the possibility of facing any of those teams in a seven-game playoff series scare you?
I was at the Pistons game and was mildly annoyed to see Pierce take the possible game winner, because he did not have the hot hand and he left time on the clock. Meanwhile, the Cavs loss was frustrating because Ray Allen missed a couple of free throws towards the end of regulation and the C's offense imploded in overtime. But to be honest none of the losses are that big a deal to me, particularly the Magic one because it was on the road with Orlando playing very well. It's too long a regular season to get worked up about these things. That said, in a 7 game series I'd be terrified of the Celtics getting LeBroned (see Pistons last year) or getting picked apart by a veteran Detroit squad. I have a healthy respect for Dwight Howard and could see him ripping off a streak of 30-20s, but think the Magic are a year or two away.

3. Brendan of Believing in Magic started a bit of a flame-war when he called all the Celtics "punks" because of their constant hammering of Dwight Howard in the teams' first meeting this season. Is there bad-blood between Celtics fans and Magic fans? Or do you think that's all water under the bridge by now?
The whole concept of a flame-war is a bit beyond me and strikes me as something that gives blogging a bad name. I've had a few attacks on my work. In each case I either accepted the comments as warranted or been so thoroughly confused that it simply went away. I would be more likely to participate in a heated exchange with someone I knew well and thus it would not be a flame war. Bottom line some people really seem to enjoy that stuff. So I would not be shocked to see it again. Although it makes more sense for Celtics fans to get into with Knicks, Pistons, Lakers and – for myself only and for reasons I can't explain – Bucks fans.

4. I'm sure you've seen John Hollinger's Playoff Odds doohickey at ESPN. The simulator gives the Celtics a 10% chance of posting a record of 72-10 or better and a 61% chance of winning the NBA title. How much stock do you put into that?
I can't think of any situation in which the Celtics win 72 games. And I put absolutely no stock in the "61% chance of winning a title" talk. Two years ago the Pistons won 64 regular season games. Last season the Mavericks won 67. Look where it got them. Also I'd like to see the Celtics go on some real road trips and play a few elite Western Conference teams¹ before I get too carried away.

¹ - (Editor's note: the Celtics are 4-0 against the West, having defeated Denver, Golden State, the L.A. Lakers, and Sacramento. They have yet to play a Western team on the road, although they are about to embark on a four-game Western swing through Sacramento, Seattle, Utah, and Los Angeles.)

Dwight Howard pumps up his Magic teammates in the huddle before Orlando's game against Boston on Sunday. The Magic held on to deal the Celtics their first loss of the season, 104-102.
Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

Can anyone doubt the Orlando Magic are for real? We dealt the high-and-mighty Celtics their first loss in a hotly-contested game on our home floor. Here's the boxscore.

Our starting five came out gunning against the Celtics, which helped us jump out to an early lead. Keith Bogans scored 7 of his 10 points in the first quarter. Jameer Nelson was similarly keyed-in, dishing 4 of his 6 assists in the period. We lead by 11 at the end of the first and by 17 at halftime, and it appeared as though we had the game in-hand.

But the Celtics came roaring back, lead by Paul Pierce's 15 third-quarter points. By my unofficial count, Boston was a blistering 14-of-18 in the third period. Meanwhile, we couldn't get anything going offensively. Despite the fact that we held a 7-point lead going into the final quarter, Boston held a distinct edge in momentum.

We traded baskets with the Celtics for much of the final period before they took their first lead of the game, courtesy of a James Posey three-pointer. But we took of the Celtics' being in the penalty, and hit our free throws down the stretch. Hedo Turkoglu, who was having a bad game, nailed two key three-pointers with under 5 minutes to play. The Celtics had no choice but to foul for much of the rest of the game. Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis converted their free throws, and the Magic held on for the victory.

The teams were evenly matched, at least statistically. The Celtics shot 53%, while the Magic shot 50%; the Celtics shot 25% from three-point range, the Magic shot 25%; the Celtics shot 69% from the foul line, the Magic shot 70%. The real difference was turnovers. Boston coughed the ball up 20 times for 17 Orlando points. We committed 14 turnovers for 14 Boston points. That's a +3 points-off-turnovers differential in a game we won by 2 points.

Obviously, we're happy with the victory. But at the end of the season, it's not going to matter that we won this game. It will only matter if we win a title. So let's not get too carried away with this win. We face the 9-2 Hornets in New Orleans tomorrow night. They may be without Chris Paul, their franchise player, but that only means more playing time for career Magic-killer Jannero Pargo. So we have to look out for that.

I'd like to give a final shout-out to Keith Bogans for playing stellar defense on Ray Allen, who shot just 7-of-17 from the field for 19 points. Without his efforts, we might not have won this game.

Other notes

• James Augustine got the first non-garbage-time minutes of his career, subbing in for Dwight Howard in the first quarter. Auggie got the call over Adonal Foyle because Stan Van Gundy thought he would be a better match against Brian Scalabrine, the perimeter-oriented Celtics center.
• Rajon Rondo, the Celtics point guard who shot just .418 from the field in his rookie season, made all of his shots in the first half. He finished 8-of-9.
• Dwight Howard needed only 9 shots to score 24 points, thanks to plenty of free-throw attempts. He was just 10-of-20 at the line.
• Trevor Ariza was called upon to defend Kevin Garnett for parts of the game.
• On one third-quarter possession, Rashard Lewis had the ball matched up against Kevin Garnett, an NBA All-Defensive Team selection in each of the past 7 seasons. Lewis spun around Garnett, exploded to the basket, and dunked with one hand.
• Dwight Howard, who entered the game leading the NBA in rebounding at 15.0 per game, grabbed only 6 boards tonight. The Magic were outrebounded 41-28.