Okay, I am starting to feel like a jinx. No, really, I am. I said four days ago that the chances of Orlando coming back and winning their series with Boston, after being down 3-0, were about as good as the chances of a May blizzard on Boston Common. And so what has transpired since?
First there was an awful offensive possession with less than twenty seconds to go in Game Four, twenty seconds wherein all that was needed to sweep the series was one score, whether it be a hoop, or a free throw. But rather than call a time-out and set up a play, let's bring the ball down, try to set up a pick-and-roll, and have it blow up in our faces, and then let the Magic compound the problem by re-discovering their gimmick play - the three - in overtime.
Then let's go to Orlando, that city where there was an actual groundswell the other day in a poll on Pinstriped Post to lose the fourth game and be done with it. Yes, that Orlando where many of their 'fans' did not even see the point of winning one game. Let's go there, Celtics, with the Curse of the Mariner on your backs, and get out-hustled all night, let's let the Magic run us to death, and let's also watch Orlando rain three-pointers on us as if they were bands of precipitation in front of a hurricane.
Orlando schooled the Celtics last night, and - you guessed it - there was actually a thread on the Boston Blog today shrieking for the dismissal of Doc Rivers. Luckily, that thread was almost unanimously disparaged by the respondents. But whether the fans shoot down such notions or not, it is clear that full panic mode has set in, at least among the nervous faithful who just recently saw their hockey team choke away a 3-0 series lead to Philadelphia.
Big Baby Davis gets an elbow from Dwight Howard, and may have a concussion. Marquis Daniels also may have injured his head in a collision, and Sheed might have hurt his back.
And in a full return to blazing glory of The Gimmick...Orlando goes 13 of 25 from long range.
Oh, and Boston's starting center, Kendrick Perkins, might be suspended after picking up his seventh technical foul of the playoffs.
I said when this series started that I couldn't really care less who won, that there was no real rooting interest, but now I am fascinated by the twists and turns it has taken in spite of myself.
Did I single-handedly jinx the Boston Celtics? (he asked with a chuckle).
Game Six is tomorrow night in Boston. If the Celtics lose, and it has to go back to Orlando for a decisive game...