Eastern Conference:

Orlando 88 - Boston 92

Boston leads series 3-2

Guess who? Stephon Marbury had all 12 of his points in the fourth quarter to spark the Celtics to a win, and a 3-2 series lead. (NBA/Yahoo images)

• Talk about choking. The Orlando Magic squandered a 10-point lead with 5 minutes left, allowing the Boston Celtics to score the next 13 points, and eventually lose. The Boston Celtics now go up 3-2 in their series. Stephon Marbury (of all people!) led the Celtics charge, with all of his 12 points in the final quarter. Glen Davis, who hit a buzzer beater in Game 4 to win it for Boston, had 10 of his 22 points in the fourth too. Paul Pierce had 19 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, and Ray Allen had 13 points (3-11 shooting only). However, his three-pointer with 1:20 left in the game gave Boston it’s first lead since the first quarter.
• Dwight Howard had 12 points and 17 rebounds, Rashard Lewis had 19 points, and Hedo Turkoglu had 18 points and 7 assists. The Magic shot better than the Celtics (.450 vs .423), but the Celtics managed 9 more free throw attempts. The Magic, who are a very dangerous team when hitting their threes, also only shot 6-24 (.250) from long range, compared to the Celtics 5-16 (.312).
• Orlando has to be worried a bit, since this easily could have been them leading 3-2 (if Davis hadn’t made the game winner in the last game) or even 4-1 (without the Davis shot, and if they hadn’t choked in this one). They don’t need to panic, but continue playing hard. I also noticed that Dwight Howard hasn’t been able to dominate any game of this series offensively, with a high of 23 points (as opposed to the Philly series, when he had two 30-point games). Granted, the Kendrick Perkins and the Celtics are better defenders than Sam Dalember and the Sixers, but I think that Orlando might have to adjust to involve Howard more. Even Dwight Howard thinks so! “You’ve got a dominant player. Let him be dominant,” said Howard. With ‘Shard and Turkoglu seemingly getting over their injuries, Orlando’s Big Three has to play cohesively now more than ever, and Stan Van Gundy would do well to allow Dwight to take a bigger offensive load. He’s not the franchise player for nothing.
• Boston has been showing a lot of heart this postseason, winning when a lot had written them off because of the loss of Kevin Garnett. This series might turn to 7 games, but even if it doesn’t, Boston will have a lot of mileage on them with that epic Chicago series. Tired legs may be a factor for them down the stretch in this series, and potentially in the next round if ever they win.

*****

Western Conference:

Houston 78 - LA Lakers 118

Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, and Pau Gasol all had great performances as the Lakers routed Aaron Brooks and the Rockets. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

LA leads series 3-2

• Now that is a team that bounces back. Led by Kobe Bryant’s 26 points, the LA Lakers routed the Houston Rockets on their way to leading the series 3-2. Pau Gasol had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Andrew Bynum showed that he’s back in form with 14 points and 6 rebounds while starting  the game. The Lakers bench got in on the act when they were subbed in for the starters, and more than kept the Rockets at bay. Jordan Farmar had 12 points and 6 assists, Lamar Odom had 10 points and 6 rebounds (playing 18 minutes despite an injured back).
• This was an atrocious shooting night for the Rockets. The team only shot .326 (compared to the Lakers’ .512). Ron Artest had 9 points on only 4-15 shooting after starting out hot, and Aaron Brooks added 14 points on 4-11 shooting. Luis Scola had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Rockets. The 40-point loss tied the Rockets’ worst playoff loss ever, when they got blown out by Dallas in 2005.
• The story of this series has been the opening quarter performances. The team that led at the end of the first quarter has won each game in this series. It’s noticeable that in all the Rockets wins, they held the Lakers to a low first quarter output, playing their defense well and limiting the Lakers’ offensive opportunities. In the Lakers wins, they had outgunned the Rockets to set the tone for the rest of the game. It’s a game of offense versus defense as the Rockets look to tie the series at home and force Game 7.
• Kobe Bryant has always bounced back from bad games, like he did a couple of years ago when he scored 45 points against Phoenix after a 15-point effort in the previous game. Prior to this game, Bryant had scored only 15 points too, so you knew that he was going to find a way to improve on that. He didn’t score 40 again, but was hot early, and seemingly infected his teammates with his great shooting.
• Also, Sasha “The Machine” Vujacic had a SLAMMA JAMMA BING BONG! When The Machine dunks like that, you know you’re in for a long night! (That was The Machine’s only basket of the night, though).