Sports / Basketball |
Magic end four-year playoff drought(AP)Updated: 2007-04-16 10:42 Hedo Turkoglu blocked Delonte West's driving layup at the buzzer to help Orlando clinch its first playoff berth in four years with an 88-86 win over Boston on Sunday. Orlando's win and Indiana's 111-107 loss against New Jersey combined to clinch the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs for Orlando. The Magic nearly blew a 17-point lead in the final 6:41 before Turkoglu clinched the win. Turkoglu led the Magic with 20 points. Grant Hill and Jameer Nelson had 16 points each and Dwight Howard added 10 points and 14 rebounds. Al Jefferson led Boston with 28 points. West had 19 points and Rajon Rondo had 16 as the Celtics lost their seventh straight game. The Magic led 87-86 with 13.5 seconds left when Howard missed two free throws to give Boston a chance. Rondo drove hard to the basket, but his layup attempt fell well short. Howard grabbed the miss and was fouled with 4.6 seconds to play. He missed the first free throw, but made the second to put Orlando up 88-86. After a timeout, the Celtics got the ball to West, who drove to the basket, but saw Turkoglu block it from behind as the buzzer sounded. The Celtics were down 19 points entering the fourth quarter and trailed 85-68 with 6:41 left after a dunk by Darko Milicic. Boston went on a 12-0 run, capped by Jefferson's layup that cut the deficit to 85-80 with 4:10 left. Hill stopped the run with a pair of free throws with 3:47 to play, but Rondo hit two free throws and Jefferson made two more layups to make it 87-86 with 57 seconds left. The Magic led 48-40 at halftime, despite sloppy ball-handling and poor defense that gave Boston easy shots in the paint. Orlando turned it over 12 times in the first half with Howard and Turkoglu committing three each. Orlando failed to sustain anything offensively until Howard finished a 7-0 run with a thunderous dunk that made it 44-36 with 3:33 left in the second period. The Magic picked up the tempo at both ends of the floor in the third quarter and broke open the game. Orlando's defense forced seven turnovers that the Magic turned into 10 fastbreak points. Orlando also hit four three-pointers in the quarter, outscoring Boston 30-19 to take a 78-59 lead into the final period. |
|