NBA Roundup, 13th March: Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics win
Orlando Magic beat Phoenix Suns 111-88
On Sunday night, the mercurial Orlando magic centre Dwight Howard led his team to yet another win at US Airways Center, Phoenix. Howard not only scored 26 points and 15 rebounds in that game but also reached a personal milestone
of eclipsing 10,000 points in his career. His teammates Brandon Bass scored 17 while Gilbert Arenas came off the bench to score 16 points as the Magic got the better of Phoenix Suns for the first time since Nov. 14, 2001, playing in the desert city.
Howard expressed his feelings on winning this game,
“We hadn't won here since I have been in the NBA, so that was our whole focus, to get a good win. I never look at the points, Rebounds and blocks are what win games for me”. The Magic though, undoubtedly benefited from the injury
Suns star swingman Steve Nash who missed the game due to a ‘Pelvic Instability’ ailment.
The 5-0 run by the Orlando Magic early at the first quarter soon snapped up by the Raptors Robin Lopez and Aaron Brooks as they scored back to back four points. But Orlando Magic picked the pace and accomplished a 10 points lead
at the end of the first quarter 32-26.
The Suns tried to rally back in the second quarter and came as close as two points but Howard and his men bounced back vociferously to propel their advantage into double figures. The Magic headed into the locker room leading the
game at 61-52.
The Magic continued to pound the Suns’ defense into the third quarter and continued to maintain their deep into the third quarter. Howard then fired the final salvo when he scored seven in a 11-1 spurt, one which sparked the Magic
to 22-point lead at the culmination of the third. The rest as they say was history as the Magic strolled to a 111-88 rout.
Boston Celtics thrash the Milwaukee Bucks 87-56
On Sunday night at the TD Garden, the mighty Boston Celtics set a new franchise record for fewest points allowed in the shot clock era as they blew the Milwaukee Bucks apart with a 87-56 rout. That was the lowest points ever for
the Bucks’ against the Celtics.
Ray Allen, the offensive pivot of the Boston Big Three played for just three quarter yet led the Celtics with 17 points. The highlight of the night though was a shored-up and stifling defense from the Celts that limited Milwaukee
to just 31.4 percent shooting from the field and a new franchise low for points scored.
Nenad Krstic scored 11 points and 14 rebounds for the victorious Celtics.
Bucks’ Coach Scott Skiles whose team spurned a three game winning streak expressed his frustration when he said,
“That's about as humiliating a defeat as you'll ever see. Right at the jump ball [Rajon] Rondo got right up into Brandon [Jennings], and they got us on our heels and took our competitive fight away from us. We pretty much just
gave into it”.
Bucks’ Earl Barron was the only player who gathered double figure 10 points for his team. Bucks’ roster looked exhausted while no other player came forward to boost up the momentum for their team. Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings
scored eight points each.
Boston coach Doc Rivers commented on the Bucks’ weary players as well,
“You could see they were tired, so, we took advantage and that was great, but a lot of it had to do with their schedule”.
In a downright dominant performance, the C’s held the Bucks to 9 points in the first twelve minutes and then carried on the momentum to restrict them at a total of 22 points at the end of the first half, which incidentally happened
to be the lowest first half score against the Celts.
What followed was a procession of some probing offense from the C’s and the continuation of offensive listlessness from the Bucks as the game ended at 87-56.
Tags: