BOSTON – The Boston Celtics booked a place in the NBA finals, and a shot at an unprecedented 18th championship, by beating the Orlando Magic, 96-84, on Friday to clinch their Eastern Conference finals series, 4-2.
Paul Pierce had 31 points and 13 rebounds, and little-used backup Nate Robinson gave the Celtics a boost with 13 second-quarter points, earning Boston a chance to play for a second NBA title in three years.
The finals will begin Thursday in either Los Angeles or Phoenix. The Lakers lead the Western Conference finals, 3-2, and a victory over the Suns in Game 6 on Saturday would set up the cross-coast rivals for a rematch of the 2008 finals – and 10 other championship series from 1959-87.
“We got back to moving the ball, playing good defense, not allowing them to shoot the 3-point shot. That was the key,” Pierce said.
The Boston fans have been chanting “Beat L.A.!” since Game 3, when the Celtics cruised to a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. Orlando won the next two games and threatened to become the first team ever in the NBA to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series.
“The starting five has never lost,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said. “This starting five has never lost a series, ever. We believed that coming into the season, and we just kept believing.”
Orlando’s Dwight Howard had 28 points and 12 rebounds as the defending East champions failed to get back to the finals. Vince Carter scored 17 points, and Jameer Nelson finished with 11 points and four assists as he was outplayed by Boston’s starting point guard, Rajon Rondo, and Robinson, his backup.
Rivers raised eyebrows last month by saying Robinson – who had contributed little since coming to Boston at the trade deadline and had never appeared in the postseason before – would “win us a playoff game.”
Robinson came off the bench at the start of the second quarter and hit 3-pointers 90 seconds apart to help stretch the lead to 15 points. Boston led 44-25 when Robinson stole a bad pass from Carter and took off on the fast break, getting bowled over at the other end to draw a flagrant foul on Nelson.
The free throws gave Boston a 21-point lead – its biggest of the first half.
“You know, he really won this game for us because the game was in the mix to go either direction and he really gave us a spark,” Pierce said of Robinson. “... That’s really growing up, really growing into a man tonight.”
Orlando cut it to 13 points at halftime, but the Celtics scored 11 of the first 13 points in the third quarter and never led by fewer than 14 in the fourth until the final minute.
“Early on we were OK, we just didn’t make shots, and then we let it get to us and when we did it broke down,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “Two things happened to us also: Nate Robinson was huge in the first half, that was a huge, huge lift for them, to have 12 points in the first half, and the other key part of the game ... Ray hit the two 3s, bang, bang in the second half.” - (AP)