ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -Superman’s sidekicks have finally shown up.
Blogging, Tweeting and texting from his hotel room, suspended Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard seemed happier than anyone watching his teammates pull off a stunning Game 6 win to eliminate Philadelphia with his post: “im soo proud man.”
Forgive Howard’s grammar, the excitement has been a long time coming.
Howard’s teammates turned in their best game in more than a month, and they’ll have to continue their stellar play when he returns in the second round if they want to do something the Magic haven’t done since 1996: earn a spot in the Eastern Conference finals. The Magic await the winner of Saturday’s Game 7 between Boston and Chicago.
“That’s how we have to play on both ends of the court if we want to keep winning in the playoffs and bring that championship back to O-town,” Howard wrote on his blog Friday, a day off for the Magic.
It won’t be as easy.
uld be out for the playoffs – after having surgery Thursday on his fractured sinus. He suffered the injury in Game 5 on an inadvertent elbow by Howard, and his status is still uncertain.
Boston and Chicago also present tougher challenges than Philadelphia. The Magic could simply overwhelm the 76ers with better talent, meaning Orlando will need big production from players who didn’t show much until Game 6.
But the numbers were staggering in the clincher.
Backup center Marcin Gortat had 11 points and 15 rebounds. J.J. Redick scored 15 on five 3-pointers in place of Lee. Rashard Lewis had his best game of the playoffs with 29 points. Rafer Alston had 21 points and 10 assists, and Hedo Turkoglu finished with 12 points and finally seemed to regain the pop in his step that had been missing since he sprained his left ankle.
But can Howard’s teammates keep it up?
“Other people don’t know what we have in here, but we do,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We wouldn’t be where we are without Dwight, but these other guys want to prove that they can get the job done.”
If the Celtics win, the Magic will play Game 1 at Boston on Monday. Orlando would have the home-court advantage against Chicago and host the Bulls on Monday if they win.
rest of the postseason. Orlando won three of four against the Bulls.
Regardless of their opponent, the Magic will need to play more consistent.
They limped into the playoffs, struggled against a Sixers team that most expected them to sweep and they hadn’t scored more than 100 points since a blowout win against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on April 3 until Game 6.
What has changed?
“Nobody was really tight,” Gortat said. “People were saying, ‘Philly’s going to come hard because we’re playing without Dwight.’ But we we’re going to play our game, and I think they underestimated us a little bit. We came out harder. We came out ready.”
The one thing the Magic do feel confident about is Howard’s play.
The Orlando center has begun to break free of the player who has donned a Superman cape in slam dunk contests. He was having the best playoff series of his career until his elbow in Game 5 on Samuel Dalembert earned him the one-game suspension.
Howard had 24 points and a career playoff-high 24 rebounds in Tuesday’s win, and he averaged 24 points and 15.8 rebounds in the series. He started to show he not only can be a smiling jokester, but also a center with playoff attitude.
In Game 6, finally, so did the Magic.
“People questioned our toughness all season.” Van Gundy said. “That’s an unfair criticism. Don’t tell me they aren’t tough.”
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