"Our defense was awful," said Doc Rivers. "I thought they were the aggressor for the entire night. A team that is supposed to be a great defensive team, we sure didn't act that way tonight. I was disappointed at how we competed."
This series is close (2-1, Magic), but none of the games has been contested down the stretch. Three straight times we have seen a team take a lead of at least 20 points by the middle of the third quarter. The epic seven-gamer with the Bulls featured 108 lead changes and seven overtimes. This dog has had four lead changes in three games - all in the early moments of a game in which the Celtics trailed by 28 in the third.
So this time we have no more Ben Gordon splashing 30-footers to force overtime. We have no Paul Pierce hitting stake-driving stepbacks while wearing John Salmons. No big shots followed by bigger shots. All we have are blowouts.
We also have an increasingly dire situation for your Celtics. They yielded home-court advantage when they were wiped out at the Garden in Game 1, and now they're going to have to win a game at Amway Arena if they are to make it to Cleveland.
The math is simple: The Celtics cannot win this series without taking a game here in Hooterville by Lake Eola.
Part of the NBA since 1989-90, this franchise was on the front lines of the war on sensibility that came to be known as "game presentation." These are the folks who put the "ya" in yahoo. We first took note when the Celtics played a playoff series here in 1995, when Chris Ford's Green Team lost a best-of-five in four games. That was a Magic team (Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway) that went to the Finals, where they were swept by the Houston Rockets.
It's been the same nifty building for 20 years. Originally known as the Orlando Arena (the "O-Rena") it's now Amway Arena, which is about as lame as you can get. Ever been to a dinner party and have the hosts try to sell you their cleaning products after dessert? It's the all-time buzz kill.
The biggest buzz in the building last night came when rapper Lil Wayne made it to his seat on the baseline near the Celtic bench.
