BOSTON // There were still 20 seconds left in the game when Paul Pierce decided he did not need to see any more and headed to the locker room. In the hallway, he repeated aloud: "One more. One more." Pierce helped the Celtics open a 16-point lead in the first quarter, then watched as Rajon Rondo and Glen Davis led Boston to a 94-71 victory over the Orlando Magic and take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals.
The most-decorated team in NBA history, the Celtics are one victory away from their second trip to the finals in three years - and their 21st overall. No NBA team has ever lost a play-off series after winning the first three games. Celtics fans started chanting "Beat LA!" at the start of the third quarter, when Boston led 75-47. There is nothing they would like better than another go-round with the arch rivals they beat in 2008.
"We're motivated for what's at stake. We see the big picture," said Pierce, who was the finals MVP when the Celtics won their record 17th NBA title in 2008. "We were coming home for two games on our home court. We're motivated. We can feel it. Guys know what it's like to win a championship and play for a championship." The Magic have to win Game 4 tonight to avoid a sweep. "We've got to resist the temptation of looking forward. We've got to win a game," Doc Rivers, the Celtics coach, said.
"They're going to come back in the next game, and they're going to give us their best shot. They're a competitive group, and we know that. Quite honestly, we're not good enough to let up. " The Magic need a better effort than in Game 3, when they fell behind early for the third game in a row. This time, they did not even mount a charge to make it close. "The most disappointing thing to me was that I didn't have our team better ready to play," said Stan Van Gundy, the Magic coach.
"It starts with me. It's my job. I'm the coach of this team. It starts with me and I'm not happy with where we had our team tonight or anything I did." Pierce had 15 points and nine rebounds, Ray Allen scored 14 and Kevin Garnett had 10 points in 24 minutes. But this time it was not the Celtics' ageing all-stars who did the damage ? it was the two youngest players on the roster, Davis and Rondo, who were born in 1986, the year that Larry Bird and the original Big Three won the last of their three NBA titles.
Davis scored 17 points, and Rondo added 11 points and 12 assists, and they also gave the team energy and defence that the Magic could not match, diving to the floor for loose balls and getting the crowd going with spectacular plays. Davis celebrated one play underneath the basket with an ecstatic but odd session of running in place; the crowd went wild. Rondo out-hustled Jason Williams down the court for a loose ball in the second quarter, diving to take it away and then getting up to beat him again for the lay-up.
"What he's doing is, he's leading the team," Rivers said. "He's playing with great focus. He has a great sense of what to call offensively. And now he's giving an amazing effort, never giving up on any possession. When you have that speed and then you have that heart, you become a pretty good player." One game after scoring 30 points, Dwight Howard had just seven, and seven rebounds. Rashard Lewis was also disappointing, scoring four points on two-for-eight shooting, missing all four three-point attempts. Vince Carter and Jameer Nelson had 15 points apiece.
"This is a tough one to swallow," Carter said. * AP
Conference Finals Boston v Orlando Game 1: Boston 92, Orlando 88 Game 2: Boston 95, Orlando 92 Game 3: Boston 94, Orlando 71 Game 4: Today at Boston Game 5: Wednesday at Orlando* Game 6: Friday at Boston* Game 7: Sunday at Orlando* LA Lakers v Phoenix Game 1: LA 128, Phoenix 107 Game 2: LA 124, Phoenix 112 Game 3: Yesterday at Phoenix, late Game 4: Tomorrow at Phoenix Game 5: Thursday at LA* Game 6: Saturday at Phoenix* Game 7: May 31 at LA* * if necessary
