NBA capsules: Magic, Lakers coast to wins
Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu helped dethrone the defending champion Celtics on Sunday night in Boston and gave Orlando a chance to bring a crown to the Magic Kingdom.
Howard had 12 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocked shots, and Turkoglu had 25 points with 12 assists in Game 7, leading Orlando into the Eastern Conference finals 101-82.
Orlando trailed for just 36 seconds and built a lead it couldn't squander to earn the right to play LeBron James and the Cavaliers for a spot in the NBA Finals. Game 1 is Wednesday in Cleveland; Orlando won the season series 2-1.
"We believe. We believe we can go all the way," Howard said. "It's going to get harder."
Ray Allen scored 23 points for Boston, and Paul Pierce had 16 before they were taken out of the game for a courtesy cheer with 2:30 left and the Magic up 99-78. The other member of the new Big Three, Kevin Garnett, awaited them on the bench, where he watched the whole series in street clothes with a right-knee strain.
Garnett's absence derailed the Celtics' title defense before it got started, forcing them to fight through a seven-overtime, seven-game series against the Bulls in the first round and leaving them perpetually playing from behind in the second.
The Magic nearly blew a 28-point lead in Game 1, then did waste a 14-point lead in Game 5 to give the Celtics a 3-2 advantage in the best-of-seven series. Boston, which won the last of its unprecedented 17 NBA titles last year, had never lost a series after being ahead 3-2.
Lakers 80, Rockets 70: All is well again in La-La Land. The real Los Angeles Lakers showed up, and in a Game 7, no less.
With Pau Gasol dominating on both ends of the court, the Lakers emphatically silenced the doubters and the Houston Rockets, winning the decisive final game of the Western Conference semifinals.
Playing with emotion, Gasol scored 21 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. The Lakers looked like the conference's top-seeded team, not the maddeningly inconsistent one that was pushed to the limit by the undermanned, smaller Rockets.
Trying to reach the NBA Finals for the second straight year, the Lakers host the opener of the conference finals against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night. Los Angeles won three of four from Denver this season.
Asked what the Lakers learned from this series, Kobe Bryant cracked: "That we're bipolar."
Added Lamar Odom: "To make it interesting. It's Hollywood, you know."
It turns out that homecourt advantage and a smothering defense were all it took to jump-start the Lakers, who made sure they didn't choke this one away against the No. 5 seed.
The Lakers dominated the paint on both ends, forcing the Rockets into turnovers and bad shots. The owned the backboards, taking a 55-33 advantage, and blocked 10 shots.