Celtics Lose Again

There's a new Magic man in Orlando.

The Celtics lost for the third time tonight in their last four games, getting outplayed by the Magic tonight 83-78. The Celtics lost the handle on this game early when they went down by as many as 16 points in the first half to a Magic team that looked determined to send a message to the rest of the league. Last year, a KG-less squad lost to an arguably lesser Magic team in the playoffs and have sought retribution ever since. With Garnett and Rasheed Wallace in the fold, many thought that the Magic now didn't stand a chance against the dominant C's.

The Magic made some offseason moves themselves, most notably acquiring SG Vince Carter from the New Jersey Nets. The all-star guard put up 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, sealing the deal for the Magic late with a series of unbelievable turnaround fade-away baseline jumpers.

• PG Rajon Rondo was ineffective tonight (3-11 FG, 3 TO) and even lost playing time down the stretch in the 4th quarter to backup Eddie House as the C's tried to stretch the floor against the athletic Magic.
• The Celtics were able to limit C Dwight Howard to 4 shot attempts and 9 points, but were torched from the outside because they tried to limit the big man's post touches.
• The Magic were an unbelievable 10-22 from beyond the arc (45%) while the Celtics continue to struggle from behind the line shooting a miserable 2-19 (10.5%).
• C Kendrick Perkins was invisible tonight (5 pts, 2 rebs). He played only 14 minutes because of foul trouble.
• Rasheed Wallace continues to struggle from behind the line, going 0-8 tonight and is now a gross 22-78 from downtown this season (28%).
  
• As a team the Celtics shot 34.5% tonight which simply won't get it done. The team cannot expect to win when they fail to find high percentage shots.

The 9-4 Celtics hope to right ship when they visit the 2-9 New York Knicks Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.