First potential "turning point" - about 9 minutes left in the 3rd quarter and Kevin Garnett pushes Dwight Howard's arm aside after getting hit in the head with an elbow. Barnes tries to restrain Garnett, but he throws him off too.
This turn of events seems to light a fire under the Celtics. They remain competitive all the way til the end of the regulation, holding off an inspired Magic team. Leading me to...
Second potential "turning point" - The Celtics are down 7 with about 2 minutes left. I made the point a while ago that the Celtics have four guys you can count on at the end of the game. Paul Pierce is one of those guys, he drives to the basket and dunks the ball emphatically, in a way that I don't think I've ever seen him dunk.
Allen follows this with a big 3 pointer, Jameer Nelson splits a pair of free throws, and Pierce drives to the basket again and completes a three point play. Pierce and Allen step up and the Celtics tie the game at 86 and head to overtime.
In overtime I'm looking for someone on the Magic to step up. Jameer Nelson is that player, he hits two big three pointers, after both teams went scoreless in the first 2 minutes. Howard also stepped up with two baskets off of offensive rebounds.
Howard had a very impressive stat line: 32 points, 16 rebounds, 4 blocks. He looked much better in the paint tonight, both offensively and defensively. Nelson also stepped up 23 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds. Vince Carter was a non-factor, scoring only 3 points on 1-9 shooting.
So if I had to pick a "turning point," it would be Nelson's first three pointer of overtime, which he banked in. The Magic played great tonight to keep the series alive, but if your "turning point" is a three pointer off the glass, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the series.
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