ORLANDO, Fla. — There is an axiom in professional sports that the hardest victory of a seven-game series for a team to get is the fourth. Bruins fans know all about this. Is there now a possibility that Celtics followers will soon be joining their hockey compatriots in a common unthinkable misery? What was once a 3-0 series lead over the Orlando Magic is now down to 3-2 following last night’s 113-92 defeat, and that’s only the beginning of the story.
Celtics losing their edge
Signs ominous with 3-0 series lead down to 3-2 after pounding
The Celtics may have lost far more than just Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals last night. They may also have lost the services of two needed big men for tomorrow night’s sixth game at TD Garden, one by an automatic suspension and one by virtue of a concussion.
Starting center Kendrick Perkins was ejected with 36 seconds remaining in the second quarter after picking up his second technical foul of the evening. It was his seventh technical of the postseason, and the rules call for a one-game suspension when a player reaches that number. But it is possible the technical will be rescinded when reviewed by the league office today.
Far scarier was what happened to Glen “Big Baby’’ Davis, who was injured on a play late in the third quarter. The sequence began with massive Orlando center Dwight Howard trying to score in the low post while being guarded by a convention of green-shirted individuals. Diminutive Nate Robinson came flying in from behind to disrupt the shot (replays showed he clearly hit Howard on the left wrist), and when the play ended, nine men were running toward the Boston basket while one very large young man was lying on the floor.
What happened next was truly disturbing, especially for anyone who was present the night Reggie Lewis collapsed on the old Boston Garden floor in that game against the Charlotte Hornets. Davis was obviously dazed. He made one unsuccessful attempt to get up. He tried a second time, putting his weight on his left leg. Once upright, he stumbled and lurched his way toward the other end of the floor, collapsing at midcourt onto referee Joe Crawford, whom he outweighs by 140 to 150 pounds. It was a surreal scene, for sure.
Trainer Ed Lacerte and team physician Brian McKeon tended to him, as players from both sides hovered. Play was halted for several minutes before Davis was taken to the locker room. Replays revealed that Davis had been the recipient of an inadvertent elbow thrown by Howard, who is rough but not dirty, and who was blameless on this occasion.
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