Confident Magic Ready For Game 5
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May 10, 2009
ORLANDO -- The air was simply sucked out of Amway Arena.
Blank looks were draped across thousands of faces.
This wasn't the way Game 4 was supposed to end.
After Rashard Lewis calmly drained two clutch free throws with 11.3 seconds left and the Magic played tremendous defense to force the ball out of the hands of Paul Pierce, Orlando should have been heading to Boston up 3-1 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinals series.
Instead Glen "Big Baby" Davis stepped up and seamlessly buried a 21-foot jumper at the buzzer to give the Celtics a thrilling 95-94 road victory and even their series at 2-2.
But if you expect all that to get the Magic down and travel to Boston with their tails between their legs, you're simply barking up the wrong tree. It's just not in this team's nature.
"We play even better with our backs to the wall," Lewis said about his squad's mental makeup after they lost not only the game, but home-court advantage. "Now we are in that situation so there is no reason why we shouldn't have a lot of energy and be up ready to go this next game in Boston. I think the guys will be ready to take it to them."
During the regular season, Orlando dropped back-to-back contests only four times. And after each of their three losses this postseason, the Magic have not only won, but done so by an average of 11 points per contest.
According to Magic swingman Mickael Pietrus, Orlando has too much pride and desire to simply back off in the face of adversity.
"We don't want to die," MP passionately explained about his motivation to get a Game 5 victory in Boston. "We really want to go to the NBA Finals and win a championship. We are not afraid of going out there and competing."
Even though defeating the defending champion Celtics on their floor is always a daunting task, the Magic have already proven once this series that it can be done.
And if Dwight Howard has his way, when Orlando tips off in Boston at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday night, they'll be more than ready to play a solid 48 minutes of intense basketball and pull off the same difficult feat once again.
"This is a dog fight," the Magic's All-Star center explained about their series with the Celtics. "They are the defending champions and they protect their home court well. We have to play from start to finish."
Should the Magic come out in Game 5 with the same voracity they displayed after defeats during the regular season, they'll greatly increase their chances of bouncing back in Beantown.
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