The Celtics (36-9) overtook Orlando (33-9), which had been tied with the Lakers for the best record in the NBA and was riding a seven-game winning streak. And the Celtics proved they could win away from home against an elite team, after losing on the road to the Lakers and Cleveland.
"We didn't want to go down as having lost on the floors of the top four teams in the NBA," guard Ray Allen said.
Coach Doc Rivers said before the game he considered the Magic to be playing better than any team in the league. Orlando, 16-3 since Dec. 12, entered averaging 111 points at home and on an 11-game home winning streak.
But the Celtics pressured point guard Jameer Nelson with Rajon Rondo, then collapsed their defense on Howard (11 points, 11 rebounds) and frustrated the Magic's inside game.
"You never know when you will have to step up on this team," said Davis, who stayed in the lineup with the starters in the final quarter in place of Kendrick Perkins. "I've been putting in a lot of hard work shooting that midrange jump shot."
But Davis's defense on Howard was just as impressive. In fact, Perkins was at the scorer's table set to replace Davis, but he was playing so well that Rivers called Perkins back to the bench.
"You can't let [Howard] have a good game, or a funny game," Davis said. "When he's smiling, he is feeling good and he plays good. We tried to discomfort him, make him feel angry and frustrated. No smiles and a lot of frowns. We got a lot of frowns from Dwight, so that means we had a good night. We tried to aggravate him and be a pest, not give him anything easy and make him go to the line. We wanted to box him out every time, put a body on him."
Davis scored the Celtics' first 8 points of the fourth quarter, the most impressive a hook over Howard with 0:02 on the shot clock for a 67-54 lead 45 seconds in. Nelson kept the Magic in contention with a 3-pointer with 0:03 on the shot clock, then his short jumper cut the deficit to 82-75 with three minutes remaining. But Davis's jumper restored the Celtics' 9-point margin 17 seconds later.
