Orlando puts together a late fourth-quarter run and makes all the big plays against struggling Boston.

01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, November 29, 2005

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- One six-point burst four minutes into the fourth quarter propelled the Orlando Magic to their fourth straight win, an 87-83 victory over the Celtics at TD Banknorth Garden last night.

While the Magic pushed their record over .500 for the first time this season (they are now 7-6) and snapped an eight-game losing streak in Boston, the Celtics continue to look for their first win streak this season.

Now 5-8, having lost five of their last seven, the Green can't seem to put together a game where they are clicking at both ends of the floor.

In the top third of the league in scoring average going into the night, Boston has had few problems offensively, while generally being a poor defensive team (Atlanta, which went into its game with Boston last week at 0-9, scored 120 points in a win, 30 points above its season average).

Last night was just the opposite. For the most part, the Celts were strong defensively, holding Orlando to 44.9 percent shooting from the field, just 28 points in the paint (Boston had 40) and 3 fast-break points, and kept rising star Dwight Howard in check, as he took just three shots in the game.

But as head coach Doc Rivers said after the loss, "Tonight is the first time we can say our offense let us down."

Raef LaFrentz went 1-for-10 from the field, 0-for-4 from long range. Delonte West went 3-for-7 and Mark Blount 2-for-7. It all added up to a 42.9 field-goal percentage for Boston, just the third time this season the team has been under 44 percent.

And it wasn't that those players were taking ill-advised shots; for the most part, Rivers said, they were all good looks. But not much was falling.

There were two things that hurt Boston more than anything else: the pace of the game, which was glacial, and turnovers. The Celts had 18 giveaways, the biggest of which closed out that 6-0 run in the fourth, when Jameer Nelson stripped Dan Dickau at midcourt and got a fast-break layup to put Orlando ahead, 75-69.

"Turnovers have been killing us," said Ricky Davis, who scored 15 of his team-high 22 points in the second half. "We're turning the ball over and guys are coming down and scoring. We're so aggressive, so you're going to make turnovers, but bad turnovers hurt us."

Davis added 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Paul Pierce had his sixth double-double of the year, with 16 points and 13 boards, while West finished with 11 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds. Kendrick Perkins, who once again started at center instead of Mark Blount, contributed 4 points, 5 rebounds and a block in 14:37.

As for the slow pace, that played right into the Magic's hands.

"They played great defense and they held it (on offense) for 23 seconds," Rivers said. "It's easier to impose your will when you're slowing the game down than to impose your will when you're speeding the game up."

Rivers said he wasn't too worried about the pace of the game, and even had a hard time pinpointing what his team did wrong to lead to the loss.

"As a coach, you ask yourself a couple of things: did they play hard? Well, yeah. Did they do the right things? Yeah. Did they execute? They tried. And we still lost the game," he said. "Orlando made timely, big plays. That Jameer Nelson steal was a huge play."

There was a scary moment late in the first quarter when Celtics forward Al Jefferson was head-butted by Orlando's Dwight Howard while Howard was going up for a basket. Jefferson, who looked like he had position on Howard, was knocked down and Howard fell on top of him, his head whacking Jefferson's.

Jefferson said he blacked out for a couple of seconds and had quite a headache. He was diagnosed with a mild concussion, but returned to the floor in the second half.

"I'm just mad I didn't get the charge," said Jefferson, who had 9 points and 4 boards in just 12:30 of play but missed two key free throws in the fourth.

Boston was down, 47-45, at halftime, and scored just 38 points in the second half. The teams combined for 35 points in the third quarter.

Steve Francis led the Magic with 19 points and 7 assists, while Nelson scored 16 and provided a needed spark off the bench.