Orlando Avoids The Sweep, Beats Boston To Force Game Five

There’s a school of thought that you only know how good your team is once someone punches back. The Magic didn’t get any punches back for eight games in these playoffs, and they didn’t know what to do when the Celtics actually put up a fight. Winning too many games was almost a curse for them.

That same thing won’t happen to the Celtics, though. Had they won Game 4, it would have been their seventh straight win in the playoffs, which is great. But it also would have been a long time since the Celtics had to respond to defeat, and that experience can be helpful going forward. In that way, as SB Nation’s Celtics Blog writes, last night’s Game 4 loss can be spun into a positive.

It would be natural to credit the Orlando Magic players for showing some pride and stepping up to avoid the sweep, and that credit would be deserved. Obviously, they should have shown up earlier, but at least they showed up once.

But Orlando’s Game 4 success also had a lot to do with some subtle changes coach Stan Van Gundy made. Van Gundy blamed himself for Orlando’s Game 3 loss, a sentiment that many people felt was misguided. A lot of people felt he should have ripped his players instead of criticizing himself. But Van Gundy backed up his talk by making some key coaching adjustments that helped the Magic win Game 4, as SB Nation’s Magic blog Orlando Pinstriped Post noted.

Boston, MA (Sports Network) – Jameer Nelson scored six points in overtime and Dwight Howard added the final four for Orlando, as the Magic stayed alive in the Eastern Conference finals with a hard-fought, 96-92, win in Game 4 over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.

The Magic, who had won 14 straight coming into this series, rebounded from an ugly 94-71 loss on Saturday that put them in a huge 3-0 deficit.

“It’s tough on the squad. We didn’t come out with a sense of urgency,” Carter said. “We really didn’t do that. They did a good job of playing like they were down and needed to win more than we did.”

“I understand the fans with the ‘beat L.A,’” Davis said. “We have one more game to win and this team is highly capable of winning three in a row. We have been playing great, but at the same time we need to realize it is not finished until we win the next game.”