NBA Scores Eastern Conference Semifinals: Orlando Magic Build Huge Lead, Hold Off Boston Celtics to Take Series Lead

Dwight Howard scored 16 points and grabbed 22 rebounds, Rashard Lewis added 18 points and 7 boards and Hedo Turkoglu finished with 15 points and 5 assists as the Orlando Magic built a huge first half lead and then held off a late charge to beat the Boston Celtics 95-90 on Monday night to grab a 1-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinals series.

The Celtics did a good job holding Howard at bay in the opening frame but did little to stop Lewis as the Magic forward finished the quarter with 12 points and Orlando held 24-19 advantage heading into the second. Boston then found some unlikely offense in the form of Stephon Marbury as the guard scored eight of the Celtics first 11 points in the quarter to put his team in front 30-28 but the Magic responded with an 8-0 spurt and then after Glen Davis snapped the run with a jumper Orlando closed the half on an 18-4 stretch that gave them a 54-36 lead at the break.

It got uglier in the third quarter for the Celtics as J.J. Redick hit a pair of three-pointers during an 11-0 run to push the Magic advantage to 65-37 and Boston looked done. With the big lead the Magic appeared to let up a bit and the Celtics responded as Rajon Rondo scored 10 points (all from the free-throw line) and Boston cut their deficit down to 14 before heading into the fourth trailing 78-62.

Both teams went cold from the floor in the fourth as the Magic went five minutes without a field goal but the Celtics couldn’t capitalize as they had a seven minute dry spell from the floor that only ended when Scalabrine buried a three-pointer to get Boston to within 89-80 with 3:16 left in the game. Paul Pierce then hit a triple and Glen Davis followed with a bucket to trim the deficit to four with 2:08 left but then Rafer Alston hit a short runner for the Magic to boost the advantage back to six with 1:47. Pierce pulled the Celtics back to within four and the Boston had a shot at cutting their deficit to one but Ray Allen missed a three-pointer with 44 seconds on the clock. Orlando then turned the ball over, giving the Celtics another opportunity but Pierce missed a layup and J.J. Redick took care of the rest of the game from the stripe.

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