| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
 GAME FLOW
BOSTON (AP) -- The Orlando Magic couldn't hold onto the ball, and they're also having trouble holding onto a playoff berth.
Danny Fortson had a season-high 23 points and 14 rebounds
Wednesday night as the Boston Celtics beat Orlando 95-91 to hurt
the Magic's bid for the NBA's final playoff berth.
|  | | Celtics guard Kenny Anderson dumps the ball off as he collides with Orlando's John Amaechi. |
"They've got to go down to the wire, rather than just waltzing
into the eighth spot," Celtics guard Kenny Anderson said.
Orlando is 39-39, tied with Milwaukee, which beat Cleveland
101-100 on Wednesday. The Bucks and Magic also are two games behind
Detroit for the seventh spot after the Pistons beat Miami 90-73.
"Having come this far, we're not going to fold easily," said
John Amaechi, who led Orlando with 23 points and nine rebounds.
"But we've made it tough on ourselves."
And Fortson made it tough on them, too.
"We all let him have his way tonight," Magic forward Ben
Wallace said.
Antoine Walker had 15 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for
the Celtics, who have won consecutive games following a 10-game
losing streak that ended their playoff hopes. But Boston is
enjoying its role as a spoiler.
"We want to mess up their playoff chances. That's our
motivation now," Walker said. "Now, I wish them all the best. We
just wanted to win this one."
Orlando led 91-90 with 4:05 left when Boston's Eric Williams
tipped the ball away. Walker ran to it and threw a baseball pass to
Kenny Anderson for a breakaway layup. After the Magic's Ron Mercer
missed a shot, Paul Pierce hit a 3-pointer to give Boston a 95-91
lead.
Orlando called timeout, but Pat Garrity missed a baseline
jumper. Fortson missed both free throws at the other end, but
Mercer lost the ball at the other end to and with it Orlando's last
chance.
The Celtics ran the 24-second clock down before missing a
3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer. But Orlando was left with only
8.3 seconds to try to erase a four-point deficit -- not enough time,
it turned out.
Game notes
Fortson's previous high this season was 18 points on Feb.
18 against Golden State. ... The Magic are 25-12 against opponents
with losing records. Boston is 16-16. ... Anderson and Walker are
the only two Celtics to have started every game. ... Anderson, who
scored eight points, had scored 20 or more in each of the previous
four games. ... Orlando is 8-3 in its last 11 games.
| |
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Orlando Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 95
Orlando 91
Philadelphia 93
Washington 84
Charlotte 119
Atlanta 87
Milwaukee 101
Cleveland 100
Detroit 90
Miami 73
New York 91
New Jersey 89
Indiana 77
Toronto 73
Utah 102
LA Clippers 93
Phoenix 122
Vancouver 116
Seattle 110
Minnesota 83
|
