Heartbreaker in Orlando

Rasheed played a great game until the final seconds.

What a bad loss tonight in Orlando. Despite leading the entire game and being up by as much as 16 points, the C's allowed the Magic to put up 35 points in the 4th quarter to pull out a 96-94 victory. In a tie game with seconds left, the Celtics D fell apart as Rashard Lewis drove by Kevin Garnett who was waiting for backside help from Rasheed Wallace. Sheed was late and the play resulted in Lewis scoring with 1.3 seconds left. The Celtics' play out of the timeout was a Rasheed Wallace three-point attempt which he air balled.

The Celtics did a good job of getting big Dwight Howard in foul trouble, as he sat for much of the first half. He exploded in the fourth quarter though and finished with 19 points, 10 boards, 4 blocks, and 2 steals. Rashard Lewis, who had been struggling lately, exploded also for 23 points. Another thing working against them tonight was the insane discrepancy in free throws. The Magic made it to the stripe 22 more times than the Celtics; 26-40 for the Magic and 12-18 for the Celtics.

Here's the box score because I don't care to talk about some of the great efforts that were wasted tonight.

The Celtics fall to five games back in the Eastern Conference behind the Magic and fall to 1-2 against Orlando on the year. Things don't get easier as the Celtics play the rival Hawks tomorrow night and than nemesis Lakers Sunday afternoon. They really shot themselves in the foot tonight not taking care of business before the next two huge games.

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In better news, Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce were selected as All Star reserves today joining Kevin Garnett who is starting for the East. It is Rondo's first selection and Pierce's eighth. Ray Allen, a nine time All Star, was not selected.