Orlando had to play a perfect game in game 6.  To put it bluntly, they didn’t

SCOTT JACOBS

In order to make history, you have to put yourself in position to defy it.

The Magic walked into the TD Garden on Friday night halfway home to a feat no NBA team had ever accomplished.

And they walked out, halfway home to a comeback no NBA team has ever completed.

From 3-0.  To 3-2.  From despair and shame to hope and belief.  To poof, season over.

That in a nutshell was Orlando’s Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2010.  Thanks for playing, boys.

History 94.  Magic 0.

Maybe we gave Orlando too much credit.  Maybe they just weren’t good enough to win three straight against the Celtics, two of which came on the road.  Maybe they ran out of gas.  Trying to play a perfect game is hard enough two games in a row.  The Magic needed another doozy on Friday.  Instead, they fell asleep at the wheel, keeping the game tight for the first six minutes, before watching the men of Green run them right out of the playoffs.

Boston 96 Orlando 84.

To say the game was that close is doing a dis-service to the Celtics who ran roughshod over Orlando’s comeback dreams, taking a game that was close early on, and putting all engines a go, to finally finish off the pesky reigning Eastern Conference champs.

The game was a nutshell in why it’s so difficult to come back from a 0-3 hole in a seven game series.

With pressure on each and every game to play a perfect game, you’re bound to have an off-night.  Unlike hockey, where a hot goalie can carry a team to a few wins by himself, it takes a total team effort to win an NBA playoff game.  The Magic just didn’t have it in game six.

They didn’t give up, and for that they get credit.  With numerous opportunities to throw in the towel in a series that went haywire from the getgo, Orlando clawed back and at least made it somewhat respectable.  But if you’re going to climb out of the hole that Orlando was attempting to you have to be hitting on all cyclinders.

Making just six threes in game six was not enough.  Failing to score more than 23 points in one quarter wasn’t going to cut it.  Having just three guys score in double figures is not how you send history upside down on it’s head.  It’s how you send yourself home.

Unfortunately for the Magic, home doesn’t include what would have been an intriguing game seven at The Am.

Dwight Howard played well, but he’s no LeBron or Kobe.  He simply is not good enough offensively yet to take over a game and win one all by himself.  See Wade, D.  The Magic needed another big effort from Jameer Nelson and he flopped badly, finishing with just 11 points and only 4 assists.  Vince Carter’s corpse made a cameo appearance, scoring 17 points, many of which came in the second quarter.  Unfortunately that effort merely kept the Magic on life support, as the Celtics buried three huge threes to open the second half, putting the nail in Orlando’s comeback coffin.

Carter reverted back to his usual soft self in the second half, barely making a dent on the stats sheet, and even suffering another questionable injury that took him out for the rest of the night.  The 11 year vet still has some athletic ability but is clearly a shell of what he once was.  That wouldn’t be as worrisome if $119 million mistake Rashard Lewis showed up, but once again, he didn’t.  Lewis finished with just 7 points and although people want to give him a  strange amount of credit for at least trying, I refuse to.  A big money player according to his contract, Lewis officially has the worst contract in the league.  And unfortunately for Orlando no one is stupid enough to take on that deal, not even the Knicks.

Orlando, which got contributions and big-time performances from their entire bench last post-season, got none of the same in these Conference Finals.  J.J. Redick had a few nice games, but doesn’t exactly strike fear into the heart of anyone.  He’s too small. And poor Mickael Pietrus.  What the heck happened to him?  I could go on, but why bother.

Boston was better.  Their defense was tougher.  Their stars shined brighter.

It’s no mirage they won this series.

It’s the way they did it that still has Orlando stunned.  Emphatically, with a little drama for effects, but ultimately all for not.

Boston goes to the Finals, again.  Orlando goes home, a season that seemed so promising, doomed in by the brutal reality that they just aren’t good enough.

Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Co. made sure of that last night.

Photo: Getty

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