The final score of 92-88 is a pleasant mirage for the Orlando Magic.  The game was never really close.  The Celtics never lost control and despite the stupidity of running the clock down starting in the 3rd quater, the Celtics had the game well in hand.

The Orlando Magic were riding the high of two easy sweeps and entered game one with the mindset that the Celtics would roll over for them too.  Not so fast my friends. 

The Celtics, playing like the old cats schooling the young guns at your local park courts, bullied, battered and bruised the Magic into submission Sunday.  Kendrick Perkins, Rasheed Wallace, and Glen Davis each pulverized Dwight Howard into playing a stunningly quiet game. 

Howard, who looked unstoppable against the Atlanta Hawks, was frustrated and taking out of the game by the Celtics aggressive tactics.  They had him so bothered he shot 3-10 from the field and committed an amazing seven turnovers.  Howard was basically taken completely out of the game.  By doing this the Celtics were able to stay attached to the Magic's plethoria of 3-point shooters.   The one player who was able to get going early for the Magic was Vince Carter.  Normally Carter avoids contact and is content fro hoist fade away jump shots but Sunday he attacked the rim like a man on a mission.  

The Celics balanced scoring was paced by Ray Allen.  He always moves beautifully without the ball and his perfect form shot is a thing of beauty, but on Sunday he was attacking the Magic off the dribble as well.  His ability to deceptively manuever around his defender and then attack the cup took the Magic off guard.  Paul Pierce was an efficient scorer, but more importanly he rebounded the ball consistently.  When Pierce is scoring and rebounding, like Sunday, the Celtics are tough to beat.

The game was very sloppy and both teams have a lot to improve on before game two on Tuesday.  The Magic need to find a way to get Howard invloved on offense.  His best bet is going to be to hustle down the floor, get posted deep in the post early and attack the rim.  Also they need to stick with line-up of Jameer Nelson, J.J. Redick, Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat and Dwight Howard.  Those were their 5 best on Sunday, and their size and skill match-up well with the Celtics. The Celtics need to clean-up the turnovers and get more low-post offense.  Also, don't run the clock down.  Stay in attack mode all game.