There are a multitude of reasons why the Celtics routed the Magic, 96-84, on Friday, ending the Magic's season, but there's little doubt that Boston won the battle of the point guards.
Josh Robbins / Orlando Sentinel
BOSTON -- If you're searching for a specific moment when the tide started to turn against the Orlando Magic and in favor of the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, look no further than Jameer Nelson's offensive foul with 2:22 remaining in the first quarter.
It was Nelson's second personal foul of the game, and coach Stan Van Gundy had no other choice but take his starting point guard and his offensive sparkplug out of the game.
The Magic never recovered.
View full sizeMagic guard Jameer Nelson (14) was no match for Celtics guard Rajon Rondo.
There are a multitude of reasons why the Celtics routed the Magic, 96-84, on Friday, ending the Magic's season, but there's little doubt that Boston won the battle of the point guards.
Rajon Rondo and rarely used backup Nate Robinson combined to score 27 total points and took control of the game in the first half. Meanwhile, Nelson and his backup, Jason Williams, totaled 16 points and never could sustain any momentum.
"Tonight, it seemed like we were a step slow or they were a little better," Nelson said afterward. "Myself, in particular, I turned the ball over too much. Going into the lane, I had too many indecisive plays that led to turnovers and fastbreak points for them. I put a lot of it offensively on myself, but we're in this thing together."
Nelson, who finished with 11 points and five turnovers, started the game strongly.
He recorded assists on the Magic's first two baskets -- both of them dunks by Dwight Howard -- but he didn't record another assist until 4:44 remained in the fourth quarter.
Nelson had been the Magic's catalyst all postseason. He entered Friday night averaging a team-high 19.6 points and 4.8 assists per game in the playoffs, and his stellar play and clutch shooting propelled Orlando to victories in Games 4 and 5 against Boston.
But he lost his rhythm Friday night by the time he accrued his second foul.
"Look, Jameer didn't have a real good night tonight," Van Gundy said, "and I'm not saying that critical of him, because obviously he carried us for a big part of this series and was fabulous, and tonight he just didn't have a very good game."
"The foul trouble was only part of it."
Another part of it was the Celtics point guards themselves. Rondo and Robinson's speed challenged Nelson and Williams defensively all night.
In the first quarter alone, Rondo scored 12 of Boston's 30 points. He also recorded assists on three other baskets.
"The team that got off to the best start throughout the series in the first quarter won the game," Rondo said.
Things didn't get any easier for the Magic after Rondo hurt his back on a hard fall onto the parquet late in the first quarter.
Robinson, who had played only 16 total minutes in the series' first five games, burned Orlando by scoring 13 points in under nine minutes in the second quarter.
Robinson, a 5-foot-9 jumping jack known for his dunking ability, broke the Magic's backs primarily with an assortment of jump shots. His second three-pointer of the game gave the Celtics a 40-25 lead with 8:21 remaining in the first half.
"Every day I'm on the sideline, I'm getting the crowd involved, I'm high-fiving with my guys," Robinson said. "That's the energy that I feed off of, I guess. That makes me stronger, I guess. It's kind of like when The Incredible Hulk gets madder, he gets bigger. I guess with the energy and the positive energy I feel from the fans and from my teammates, that gets me going."
Robinson certainly didn't wilt when he was on the receiving end of a Flagrant 1 foul by Nelson with 6:34 remaining in the second quarter. Robinson made the two free throws.
The foul also was Nelson's third personal of the game, and it forced him to sit out the rest of the first half
"I thought the other guys did a great job of attacking and just getting in the lane and trying to create plays," Nelson said. "I think once we went down, and this happened throughout the series when we went down, we tried to hit a home run, and that caused us to try a little too hard and we got away from our gameplan a little bit. But you can't blame anybody in terms of individuals."