Kendrick Perkins (and 'Sheed) shut down and frustrated Dwight Howard today to help the C's pull out a gritty 92-88 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Orlando. Howard was frustrated often and was called for a technical-foul due to 'Sheed & Perk's mental & physical tactics. Howard was held to 13 points on 3 of 10 shooting. Perk battled with Howard down low and made him work for the only 3 baskets he made. Paul Pierce also snapped out of his "funk", scoring 22 points, and hitting some key free-throws down the stretch. Ray Allen led all scorers with 25 points and delivered the game-sealing foul shots with 6.1 seconds left. Rasheed Wallace had another solid game on both ends of the ball, playing tough D as mentioned above, and scoring 13 points, the most of any bench players from either team.
This game was loaded with textbook Boston Celtics defense: hustle, diving for loose balls, deflections, etc. The Magic hung around for the entire 4th quarter, and mounted a comeback late, but the C's held on to get a huge Game 1 victory on the road. Game 2 is Tuesday night in Orlando. Tip-off is at 8:30pm. By the way, 80% of teams that win Game 1 of a Conference Finals series go on to win the entire series....
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