NBA: Can you believe it? Orlando Magic make history with rout of Celtics
By Brian Schmitz
The Orlando Sentinel
BOSTON � When the night ended and the feel-good comeback was complete, the Orlando Magic merrily left the storied court with this startling realization:
They are halfway home to winning an NBA title.
Now the Magic will have to go through LeBron�s house to reach their destination.
Incredibly, given the odds against them, that�s where they find themselves after whipping the defending champion Boston Celtics 101-82 in Game 7 on Sunday night at TD Banknorth Garden.
It�s on to the Eastern Conference finals for the franchise for the first time since 1996.
Standing in the way of making their first NBA Finals appearance since 1995: LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavs, who are unbeaten during the postseason.
The seven-game series begins Wednesday night in Cleveland.
It takes 16 playoff victories to win the title.
The Magic eliminated the Philadelphia 76ers 4-2 in the first round and recorded their eighth victory against the favored Celtics, winning the series 4-3.
�You can have the championship in the back of your mind as a goal, but now we�re trying to get one win against Cleveland,� Coach Stan Van Gundy said. �This is huge for our team and the organization.�
Forward Hedo Turkoglu, who played the go-to role to perfection with 25 points and 12 assists, was asked how far his team can go.
�We want to see, too,� Turkoglu said. �We have a chance. We never lose confidence of what we can do�not myself, not anybody.�
The Magic felt they had lost two opportunities, in Games 4 and 5, to make quicker work of the Celtics. They fell behind 3-2 and were on the brink of elimination but won the last two games, including their first Game 7 victory since 1995.
The most satisfying sign for the visitors was Celtics Coach Doc Rivers�the former Magic coach�taking out his starters with 2:30 remaining, the NBA version of waving white flag.
Everything was against them, especially the Celtics� playoff experience in Game 7s and their storied history.
But the Magic were afire from the field, hitting the 3-point shot�their seasonlong specialty�and built a 23-point fourth-quarter lead to whip the Celtics.
The Magic shot 51.4 percent and put on an amazing performance from long range, making 13-of-21 3-pointers.
Orlando�s �Big Three��Turkoglu, Dwight Howard (12 points, 16 rebounds) and Rashard Lewis (19 points) � led the way to Cleveland. Mickael Pietrus (17 points) came up huge from the bench to hand Boston just its fourth loss in 21 all-time Game 7s at home.
The question was whether the Magic would suffer a similar Game 5 meltdown in the final period. They had coughed up a 14-point lead and a 10-point lead with just over five minutes left, which also caused Howard to second-guess Van Gundy.
The Magic led by just five at 66-61 to start the fourth quarter. They pushed the lead to 17 after just three minutes, playing with poise and defense�components missing in Game 5. Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen (23 points), who finally found his jump-shot, drilled a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 12 at 90-78 with just over four minutes to play.
�It looked similar and we learned from it,� Van Gundy said.
The Magic will be portrayed as big underdogs against the Cavs, who will have home-court advantage. They posted the league�s best regular-season record and home-court record, boasted the MVP in James and have swept through two postseason series.
But on closer inspection, the Magic have matched up well with the Cavs. They have won 8 of the last 11 meetings, including an 116-87 romp this year in Orlando.
And now the Magic are halfway home to a championship.