The Boston Celtics are Shaquille O'Neal's sixth NBA team. (GETTY IMAGES)

Shaquille O’Neal has become exactly what he dreaded: a token NBA center.

This week, O’Neal agreed to terms with the Boston Celtics, his sixth NBA team and fourth in three years. He had previous stops in Orlando, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix and Cleveland. He will make the minimum salary of $1.4 million for the Celtics this season, a far cry from his $20 million contract last year. And he’ll have to come off the bench and back up Jermaine O’Neal – another center well past his prime. Talk about your fall from the NBA pedestal.

Shaquille O’Neal, the self-proclaimed MDE (Most Dominant Ever), the three-time NBA Finals MVP, The Big Diesel, The Big Aristotle and The Big Cactus, has turned into a novelty act. He took a massive pay cut and a reduced role just so he can have another shot at winning a championship. Check that! Just so he can ride on someone else’s bandwagon.

The player once known as the biggest and baddest player on the planet has accepted a small role with the Celtics.

Shaq loves being referred to as The Man of Steel, and despises the fact that Dwight Howard has “stolen” that moniker from him. But Shaq hasn’t been the Superman-like since 2006. He averaged a human-like 12 points and six rebounds last season for Cleveland and when the free agency period began on July 1 there were very little takers for the four-time NBA champion.

Shaq has said more than once that he doesn’t want to be remembered as a guy who hung on too long and played well past his prime. Well, I’ve got news for Shaq. Dude, you are officially hanging on too long.

Patrick Ewing hung on two years too long. He wore the colors of the Seattle SuperSonics and the Orlando Magic the last two years of his 17-year Hall-of-Fame career, the majority of it with the New York Knicks.

Hakeem Olajuwon hung on one year too long. He wore the colors of the Toronto Raptors in the final season of his 18-year Hall-of-Fame career, the majority of it with the Houston Rockets.

And Moses Malone hung on three years too long. He was a bit player for the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs in the final three seasons of his 19-year Hall-of-Fame career, highlighted by five dominant seasons with the Rockets and four with the Sixers.

Great NBA players, or great athletes for that matter, just don’t know when to quit. It’s a sad commentary on today’s, as well as yesterday’s, professional athlete. Shaq, who turns 39 in March, has become THAT GUY. He has turned into the player he used to poke fun at when he used to rule the NBA planet. He has become that YMCA baller who hated running up and down fullcourt and preferred to play only 3-on-3 halfcourt. Shaq used to be THE GUY everyone followed. Now, he has become a follower.

Superman has turned into an overweight Clark Kent, and is no longer The Big Headliner on the front pages of the Daily Planet.

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Shaquille O'Neal has yet to sign with an NBA team. (GETTY IMAGES)

August is nearly here and Shaquille O’Neal is still a free agent. Not many teams are jumping at the chance to snag The Big Diesel, who is reportedly asking for a two-year deal worth around $8 million. O’Neal will be 39 years old in March and his once imposing presence and larger-than-life reputation has become nothing but a distant memory.

If O’Neal posted his resume on Craigslist it would read something like this: Three-time NBA Finals MVP looking for work …. Funny, outgoing and likes to come up with nicknames …. Prefers to play for a winning program ….  can only work half a season, and preferably just 24 minutes a day  and no more than 150 minutes per week …. Salary: negotiable …. Medical benefits: needs full coverage because of preexisting condition …. Work experience (by city): Orlando, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix and Cleveland …. Unique skills: space eater, hard to move, very strong …. Hobbies: likes to rap and dance (part-time member of the hip-hop group Jabbawockeez: America’s Best Dance Crew) …. References: available upon request.

If he retires now, after 18 seasons, O’Neal will leave with four championships, three NBA Finals most valuable player trophies and 15 All-Star game appearances, and he is second all-time in field-goal percentage at .581.

All those numbers are certainly good enough to put him in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., but they all could have been better.

Shaq says he wanted to leave the game with at least five championships. He won three with the Lakers and one with the Heat, which leaves him one short of his goal. O’Neal could have won more than three with the Lakers, but he wasted a lot of “company time” arguing with Kobe Bryant. He won just one regular season MVP (2000) and never played more than 79 games in each of his eight seasons in L.A.

Although he helped lead the Heat to an NBA title in 2006, it was Dwyane Wade who was named Finals MVP. The last time O’Neal was an MVP was his first year in Miami (2005). From that point on, O’Neal’s scoring average has dropped like the stock market.

His 28,255 points puts him fifth on the all-time list for now, but he could have easily surpassed 30,000 had he not missed more than 5,000 free throws. Last year, he averaged just 12 points and six rebounds – half of what he averages for his career.

There were reports that the Hawks were interested in signing O’Neal, but their interest has diminished. The Celtics, who are in need of big men, toyed with idea of bringing in Shaq to fill the void left by Kendrick Perkins, who is expected to be out until January after knee surgery. Boston ended up signing an O’Neal, but it wasn’t Shaquille. Instead, the Celtics and Jermaine O’Neal agreed to a two-year deal and if Rasheed Wallace comes out of retirement it would be foolish for the Celtics to go after Shaq.

The Spurs were in The Diesel’s radar, but the signing of Brazilian center Tiago Splitter, the best big man in Europe last season, pretty much ended a Shaq-Duncan pairing.

So which teams can afford to fit O’Neal into their plans? Here are seven possible destinations for Shaq:

– New Orleans Hornets: Shaq played at LSU and wouldn’t mind a return to the Bayou. The Hornets have Emeka Okafor as their starting center, but he’s not immune to getting dealt. If the Hornets decide to keep Okafor, O’Neal will have to swallow his pride, take a pay cut and be Okafor’s backup. Not likely to happen, unless Chris Paul tells management that he wants to play with Shaq.

– Milwaukee Bucks: The injury to Andrew Bogut may take a while to heal, so the Bucks are looking to rent a center for a few months. Head coach Scott Skiles still holds Shaq in high regard and has maintained a solid relationship with The Big Aristotle. Shaq would fit right in Milwaukee and be the strong personality in the locker room for the young Bucks.

– Oklahoma City Thunder: OKC acquired 6-11 center Cole Aldrich in the draft, but they certainly wouldn’t mind adding more size to their already very quick and athletic roster. However, Shaq will be a huge liability on both ends of the court and GM Sam Presti may be reluctant to bring in a big personality like the self-proclaimed MDE that would stunt the growth of 21-year-old leaders Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

– Atlanta Hawks: There is still an outside chance that O’Neal signs with the Hawks to bolster their very small frontline. But O’Neal must take less money or else this could be a deal-breaker.

– Boston Celtics: Ditto. If Shaq wants to have another shot at winning a championship ring, the Celtics may be his best opportunity. But, are the Celtics still interested?

– L.A. Clippers: Shaq back in L.A.? Wouldn’t that be something. This would be a longshot given the Clippers’ history of not being big players in the offseason, but bringing in a guy like Shaq would certainly upgrade the Clippers brand off the court. On the court, O’Neal would have to play behind Chris Kaman, but that’s easier said than done. O’Neal’s massive ego may not be able to handle that demotion. But if O’Neal agrees to play second fiddle and takes less money, it would certainly would inject some HGH into the Lakers-Clippers rivalry.

– Cleveland Cavaliers: Another longshot given Shaq’s wish of playing for contender. The Cavaliers’ championship aspirations went out the door as soon as LeBron James said “Good-bye to Cleveland” and “Hello to Miami.” O’Neal played with new Cavs head coach Byron Scott with the Lakers so playing for B-Scott shouldn’t be problem.

And should all of these teams pass on The Big Free Agent, there’s always a spot open with the Jabbawockees.

Shaquille O'Neal performs with the Jabbawockeez at the 2009 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

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Kendrick Perkins is the anchor of the Boston Celtics and without him the Celtics sunk like the Titanic.

Seven minutes into Game 6 of the 2010 NBA Finals, the Celtics lost their starting center when he came down awkwardly on his right knee while trying to grab an offensive rebound away from Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. Perkins fell to the floor and immediately pointed his right knee and called for the Boston medical staff.

He was helped off the court and taken to the locker room, and did not return. The initial report is that he tore two ligaments on his knee and is out for Game 7. He was seen leaving the arena on his own power, but definitely was favoring the knee.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said not having the 6-10, 280-pound Perkins puts the Celtics are at a huge disadvantage against the bigger and taller Lakers. “He’s one of our guys that gives us great spirit. He gives us a lot of toughness and gives us size. I hope he can play. It’ll be tough if he can’t. Somebody else is going to have to step forward. He cleans the paint up. Not having him there made the Lakers awfully long.”

Kendrick Perkins lays on the floor after injuring his right knee in the first quarter of Game 6. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Without Perkins manning the middle and cleaning up Boston’s bricks, the Celtics were manhandled, 52-39, on the boards and the Lakers dominated the game, 89-67, Tuesday night.

Rivers added that not having Perkins in the lineup allowed the Lakers to rest Bynum, who is nursing a torn meniscus in his right knee. The Lakers were able to tread water when their starting 7-foot center was on the bench. The Celtics, on the other hand, absolutely drowned when their starting center was taken out of the game.

You could sense that as soon as Perkins left the game, the Celtics were not the same team. In fact, seeing Perkins getting helped off the court really killed Boston’s spirit.

“I think we were a little focused on when Perk was going to come back instead of continuing to play. As soon as halftime came we all ran to the training room to see if he was OK. Our energy went down for a little bit, but for the most part it’s not an excuse. We just didn’t have it,” said Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo, who suffered a gash on his chin after running into Ron Artest’s elbow in the second half.

“Perk is our enforcer. He’s the biggest body we have on Bynum. He cleans the paint up for us. He does a lot of the intangibles. He’s a great shot-blocker, rebounder and he’s the anchor of our defense.”

Former Celtic Kevin McHale, who was at Game 6 covering the game for NBATV, said Perkins is one of the toughest players in the league and for him to sit this one out shows the seriousness of the injury. “Kendrick’s got a fairly severe knee injury and when you do something like that the swelling would be hard for them to eliminate. Believe me, when you have an injury like that, you go to bed thinking ‘You know Coach, I don’t feel that bad.’ Then you wake up the next morning and you put that first step in and it’s like someone hit you with a sledge hammer.”

The Celtics say they are still confident they can win the series even without their best post defender, but realistically their NBA title hopes may have disappeared when Perkins’ knee gave out.

But one thing is for sure, they’re not going to use Perkins’ injury as an excuse.

“Perk brings rebounding and defense to the game, and his toughness so you lose that. But that’s not an excuse,” said Celtics captain Paul Pierce. “We’re a mentally tough team. We’ve had injuries all year, and we know how to win when guys go down.”

Video courtesy of NBA.com

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Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen knocked down eight of 11 3-pointers against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in Game 2 of the 2010 NBA Finals. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Ray Allen set an NBA Finals record for most 3-point shots made in a game. He made eight of them, and all of them barely hit the rim. It was the kind of night shooters dream about. Catch the ball, get your feet set, release, and … SPLASH! Those who can shoot know that feeling. Those who can’t? Well, you can at least dream about it.

Allen’s jump shot was so pure and wet on Sunday night that it looked like Staples Center was the backlot of a Hollywood movie set and Allen was reliving his role as Jesus Shuttlesworth in Spike Lee’s joint “He Got Game.” Though Allen made it look easy, it certainly wasn’t. Try making seven 3-pointers in a row from 23 feet in an empty gym without a hand in your face. It might take you all day. Allen drained seven in a row in the first half against the best team in the league at defending threes.

“There’s so much going on out there from great screens being set to misdirection plays, making sharp cuts, and offensive rebounds – that’s best time to get a 3-point up. I thought they did everything they could to keep me from shooting threes working tirelessly, but we were setting great screens and getting to my spots,” said Allen, who finished with 32 points on 11-of-20 shooting and was a blistering 8-for-11 from behind the arc.

“Starting the game off, you don’t want that first shot to be a 3-pointer. You want to work your way into the game. But if it has to be, it has to be. I try not to turn a shot down when I’m open for sure.”

And the Celtics are glad Allen didn’t turn down any of the 3-point looks he was given because Allen’s shooting exhibition was a big reason why the 2010 NBA Finals is now at 1-1.

Allen felt he never got a chance to make an imprint in Game 1 because he barely played, and he made sure things were going to be different in Game 2.

“The other night was frustrating. It was tough trying to adjust to the referees and I was watching from the sidelines. I just tried to root them on,” Allen said of his disappointing Game 1, a game in which he played only 27 minutes because of fouls. In Game 2, Allen played 43 minutes and was never in serious foul difficulty.

“Physically I felt great. I was getting to the spots that I need to, just never really got into a great rhythm,” Allen explained. “Tonight I was focused on adjustments to Kobe [Bryant] attacking, being in position before I could get back and help my teammates out. The bigs set great screens for me, [Rajon] Rondo pushed the ball in transition and we got a lot more fastbreak opportunities. We got stops so we were able to run.”

Allen and Rajon Rondo were instrumental in helping the Celtics build a 14-point lead in the first half, and even though the Lakers caught them in the second half it established a fast tempo the Celtics felt comfortable playing and didn’t allow the Lakers to set up their defense and pack the paint.

“Can’t say enough for what Ray did for us tonight, especially in the first half. He carried us the whole way,” said Rondo, who recorded a triple-double with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. “We played on our edge but Ray held us through it and took over the game. Me, personally, it was fun to watch. I was just trying to get him the ball.”

Allen added: “The ball bounced more in our favor. I think we had more activity in this game, we had more energy. We fought harder. There were a couple of threes where the ball bounced kinda funky and we ended up getting it. We fought and got those extra possessions this time, and early in the game we got into transition. I got a couple of threes early and nothing was rushed, basically.”

Boston tried to get Allen more looks in the second half, but the Lakers made the adjustment and held him to only three 3-point attempts in the last two quarters.

“They did a better job of guarding him,” Rivers said. “The start of the third quarter they were scoring. By them scoring that meant we were not running anymore, and we couldn’t get [Allen] in transition. We wanted to establish Ray and Paul coming out of halftime, and we got into the same pace the first six minutes of that third quarter that we were in Game 1. We were walking the ball up the floor and we lost our tempo.”

Boston’s starting backcourt certainly made up for the lack of productivity from their their frontcourt, particularly Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

Pierce suffered through a rough shooting night, going 2-for-11 and finishing with just 10 points. He did get to the foul line six times but most of them came in the first half. Garnett vowed to bounce back from a bad Game 1, but it got even worse for him in Game 2: six points, four rebounds and five fouls in 23 minutes.

“It was a team effort. A lot of guys stepped up,” said Pierce. “Obviously Ray had the shooting going for us all night long, so we had to play through him. Rondo had it going. If we had two guys who had it going then other guys can fill in and play their roles, and we feel like we give ourselves a chance.”

Thanks to Ray Allen, Boston now has a chance in this series.

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Doc Rivers has maintained since April that, at some point during the postseason, Nate Robinson was going to win a playoff game for the Boston Celtics.

Throughout the 2010 NBA playoffs, Rivers made it a point after almost every Celtics practice to remind Robinson to stay focused, be ready and told him to “stay engaged.” “At some point, you’re going to win a game for us,” Rivers said to the little-used point guard. “I can’t tell you when you’re gonna play, I can’t tell you if you’re gonna play.”

The Celtics coach proved to be prophetic as Robinson got his opportunity in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals and delivered a superlative game off the bench that catapulted the Celtics to a series-clinching 96-84 victory and a trip to the NBA Finals.

Robinson – the 5-foot-9 three-time slam dunk champion who was acquired by the Celtics from the New York Knicks during the trade deadline – led a Boston second unit in the second quarter that pushed the Boston lead from 11 to 21 points. He scored 13 points in nine minutes and made two huge 3-point shots that not only got the crowd excited but inspired his teammates.

Nate Robinson provides a big lift for the Celtics in the second quarter of Game 6 in the Eastern Conference finals. He scored 13 points, including two crushing 3-point shots. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

“They actually made their big run with Rondo sitting on the bench,” said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. “That’s not a knock on Rajon Rondo. I’m not sitting up here saying they’re a better team without Rajon Rondo. But tonight they were.

“Nate Robinson was great. He’s a real talented guy,” Van Gundy added. “He scored a lot of points in New York, and what he did tonight was probably what they had in mind when they made the deal. I guess, for whatever reason, he hadn’t played much for them. But in an absolutely huge game he stepped up and played great.”

Paul Pierce, who led the Celtics with 31 points and had 13 rebounds, credited Robinson for sticking to the script and staying sharp despite the limited action.

“He kinda fell off the rotation, but my hats off to him because usually young players mentally fall out of it when they don’t play, just go through the motions in practice and really not into it because they’re worried about their time. That’s normal for a young player,” Pierce said of Robinson, who turns 26 this month. He had averaged just five minutes of court time in this year’s playoffs.

“But he kept his poise. He went to practice and got his work in, shot the ball, and did what he had to do to stay ready. Tonight his number was called and that just shows his true professionalism,” Pierce continued. “The game could have went either way at that point. We were only up by six or eight [points] and Rondo gets hurt, and he comes in and was a huge sparkplug, and really pushed the game for us.”

Rivers noted that he had already decided to give Robinson more playing time for Game 6 after he played well during the Game 5 loss in Orlando, and it became absolutely necessary when Rondo hurt his hip during the first quarter. “Even though we had played awful, [Robinson] came in and had bought into our defensive system and he was able to run a couple of sets in our system,” Rivers said.

Robinson carried over his solid Game 5 performance with an ever better one in Game 6. He was aggressive on offense and, more importantly, applied heavy pressure on Magic point guard Jameer Nelson, who struggled to a 5-for-14 evening and had just 11 points.

Orlando fought valiantly in this series and Rivers credited Van Gundy for keeping his team together even when most people had already counted them out when they fell behind 0-3.

“We got away from our game when we got behind. Unfortunately, it happens to every team. When we missed shots early, we didn’t stick with our game,” said Van Gundy, who pointed out that the first quarter was the key to the whole series.

“There’s this thing that people try to perpetuate that the NBA is fourth-quarter league, and you don’t even need to watch the first three quarters. That’s for people who don’t study at all and don’t follow NBA basketball. Go back through the years, two thirds or three quarters of the games are won by the team that wins the first quarter. It’s a first-quarter league. You gotta be ready at the start.”

The Magic fell behind 30-19 in the first quarter and played uphill the rest of the game.

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Celtics center Kendrick Perkins is a hard-nosed defender who has earned a reputation for being tough on referees. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers says Kendrick Perkins is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. So, why does this mild-mannered guy off the court keep getting whistled for technical fouls?

“I’m not gonna answer that. I’ll let you guys [the reporters] answer that,” Rivers said after Game 5 of the 2010 Eastern Conference finals, a game in which the Celtics’ starting center was ejected in the first half after receiving two technical fouls, which at the time gave him a league-high seven for the playoffs – an automatic one-game suspension.

After reviewing the incident, the NBA league office released a statement on Thursday and decided to rescinded the second technical foul on Perkins, clearing him to play in Game 6. However, Perkins is not out of the woods yet because one more technical and he’s off to the penalty box.

“Perk plays hard, he looks mean,” Rivers added. “He’s a great guy. I’ll leave it at that.”

Perkins was called for technical early in the first half after he bumped Magic backup center Marcin Gortat with his elbow while trying to help up teammate Paul Pierce. Then, with under a minute left in the second quarter, Perkins was called for a second technical after he argued a foul call. Even though Perkins walked away from referee Eddie Rush, Rush still served him the technical and Perkins had to leave the game.

“Didn’t think he deserved either one, but he got them. It happens,” Rivers argued. “It’s amazing we talk about this before the game, the double technical thing. Perk was bending down picking the ball up and got a tech for being around. I don’t know how he got that tech. The other tech, you know, when you argue it was awful quick but they called it. I did think that Eddie Rush realized once he called it he couldn’t rescind the tech because he had forgotten he had given him the other one. I don’t think Perk wouldn’t have gotten that one. But that happens.”

For the past three seasons, the Celtics have developed a reputation for being very tough on referees, seemingly challenging every call, and the bad perception grew even stronger this season with the addition of Rasheed Wallace, who holds the NBA record for most technicals in one season (41).

In this year’s playoffs alone, Boston has been whistled for 20 technical fouls and Perkins is the clubhouse leader with six.

“But we put ourselves in that position,” Rivers said. “Like I told our guys, you can’t make any excuses. If they don’t stand, then somebody else has to step forward and that’s just the way it is.”

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy had nothing to say about Perkins’ technicals, but he did manage to bring up the two questionable flagrant foul calls on two of his players.

“I don’t call technical fouls. I don’t have any thoughts. I didn’t think Dwight deserved the flagrant foul from the last game and I didn’t think Matt Barnes deserved the flagrant four that they gave to him on Kevin Garnett.”

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Like a boxer who just got knocked down twice in the last two rounds, the Boston Celtics return home for Game 6 with a couple of bad headaches, an aching back and a little bit of doubt in their ability to knock out the suddenly surging Orlando Magic in the 2010 Eastern Conference finals.

When asked if the Celtics could fall into the same fate as this year’s Boston Bruins – who lost four consecutive games to the Philadelphia Flyers after winning the first three in their Stanley Cup playoff matchup – Celtics forward and vocal leader Kevin Garnet emphatically said, “This is not hockey.”

Boston still leads its best-of-seven series with Orlando, 3-2, but its position has been compromised a bit with the way the Magic have won the last two games. And, with the mounting injuries and possible suspension of starting center Kendrick Perkins after he received his sixth and seventh technical fouls of the playoffs, the Celtics went from a possible sweep to a must-win situation in three days.

Celtics forward Glen Davis lies on the court disoriented after taking an elbow to the head from Magic center Dwight Howard in the third quarter of Game 5. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

The Celtics took one on the head literally in Game 5 when two players, Glen Davis and Marquis Daniels, suffered concussions and both had to be helped off the court.

Davis caught an inadvertent Dwight Howard elbow to the face late in the third quarter that knocked him down to the floor. When he tried to get back up, he staggered into the arms of referee Joey Crawford before teammate Rasheed Wallace came over to help keep him up. Davis walked off the court under his own power but never returned.

Just minutes after Davis’ injury, Daniels slammed his head into the chest of Magic backup center Marcin Gortat and went down to the floor. The Celtics were forced to foul just to get Daniels off the court, and Rivers said later that the backup guard also blacked out for a moment. Then, with the game well in hand, Wallace tweaked his lower back on a layup and he also had to leave the game and went to the locker room to get treatment.

“I know [Baby] blacked out on the floor. I was just trying to get him back down on offense. And Marquis was the same thing. A lot of elbows,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, whose team lost 113-92 in Game 5 in Orlando. Boston’s lead is down to 3-2 in the series and Game 6 now becomes a critical game for the Celtics because they want to avoid playing a Game 7 in Orlando.

Rivers is not sure about “Big Baby” Davis’ availability for Game 6, and joked that Davis may not pass the battery of tests anyway because of his wacky personality. “I don’t know what kind of tests they’re gonna do with Baby because he’s a little delirious half the time anyway so I don’t know how he’s going to pass the test. I’m worried about that,” Rivers said while cracking smiling. “But I guess he’ll have to do something before they clear him.”

Game 5 took a physical toll on the Celtics and it appears that the Magic, particularly Howard, are now the ones dishing out the punishment. “The team that’s been the most physical has won the games,” Rivers said. “It was us for the first three and I think it’s been Orlando the last two.”

As for Howard’s physicality and his loose elbows, Rivers said while shrugging his shoulders, “I didn’t know it was legal. Listen, he’s a physical guy. We know that, and you know what he should be. That’s his gift. So he’s going what he’s should do and we just need to do a better job to take the hits, I guess.”

Howard disputed any dirty tactics on his part or his team, and explained that being physical is the best way to combat the Celtics.

“Our intent is not to hurt anybody out there,” Howard told reporters. “Basketball is a very physical sport. You’re playing against a very physical and tough team in the Boston Celtics so our biggest thing is not try to fight and wrestle with them. Like I tell [my teammates], it’s all mental. We don’t want to get into a pushing match with those guys. We just want to run and play our game.”

Howard added that he certainly did not intend to hurt Davis and he was just as concerned as everyone else.

“At first, when I got back, I was looking for him because that was my man. Then when I saw him down I was like, ‘Oh, man.’ I didn’t know what to do,” Howard recalled. “I wanted to help him, but he’s on the other team. So I just stayed back and just wait. I just hope he’s OK. He’s one of my friends. You don’t want to see anybody, specially your friend, go down like that.”

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Jameer Nelson reacts after making a 3-pointer in overtime in Game 4. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

It’s only one game, but the Orlando Magic may have turned the corner with the help of their little leader.

Down 0-3 in the 2010 Eastern Conference finals and their season on the line, the Magic finally showed some fight thanks to Jameer Nelson, their 5-foot-10 point guard with a big heart. Nelson took it upon himself to lift his team out of the three-game funk it was in with his scoring, passing, play-making and, more importantly, his leadership.

He scored 23 points, set up Dwight Howard for many of his 13 field goals from close range and finished the game with nine assists, two more than his assist total for the previous three games. He also thoroughly outplayed his counterpart Rajon Rondo, who had been torturing him for much of the series.

“He’s a tough competitive guy, I thought he played with great aggressiveness and fought very, very hard,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said of Nelson, who made seven of 14 shots for the game, including two huge 3-pointers in overtime, to lead Orlando to a hard-fought 96-92 victory in overtime in Game 4.

The Orlando Magic avoided elimination after winning Game 4 in Boston. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Howard easily played his best game of the playoffs with 32 points (13-for-19 from the field), 16 rebounds and four blocked shots, and J.J. Redick scored 12 points off the bench, all of them coming in the second half that helped maintain Orlando’s lead. But it was Nelson who made the big plays when it matter most.

“He created the vast majority of our offense tonight there’s no doubt about that,” Van Gundy said. “We put a lot on his shoulders and he responded extremely well. He was tremendous tonight.”

Though Orlando is still down 3-1 in the series, getting one win was a huge boost to their sagging confidence after Boston won the first three games. “At some point, somebody’s gonna come from three-nothing down to win a series. And the only thing I knew for sure was we’d start by winning Game 4,” said Van Gundy.

“A lot of times people say ‘I can’t think about winning the series, you gotta win one game.’ I’ve never really bought into that. I’ve never been down three nothing as a head coach. I’ve been [down] three-one. If you don’t believe you’re going to win the series, then it’s too easy to let go. Yeah, you have to play it one game at a time but you have to have a belief somewhere that you can win the series. Otherwise, there’s just not enough to sustain you and to keep you going in the game.”

Van Gundy shouldered much of the blame for the 23-point loss in Game 3, saying he should have done a better job of coaching. If that’s the case, then Van Gundy should get a lot of credit for shifting the focus of the offense from Howard to Nelson, putting him in double pick-and-rolls on the strong side, which allowed Howard to slip to the post instead of having to fight for position every time. Also give Van Gundy credit for not sticking with Vince Carter, who was just 1-for-9 and held to three points. Instead, Van Gundy opted with Redick’s offense and Matt Barnes’ defense down the stretch.

“I don’t think we played desperate, I do think we played hard and we fought,” Van Gundy said. “I thought in the first half we played well. In the second half and overtime, [we had] 15 turnovers so we didn’t play well but we did keep fighting and fighting and fighting, and that’s what it took to get an overtime win.

“It’s the first time, I think in the series, we actually made it tough on them.”

With Nelson initiating the attack, the Magic played faster and got into their sets quicker, making it tougher for the Celtics to set up their great halfcourt defense.

“Jameer was driving the ball hard. I thought he was really aggressive. At times, he got down too deep and he did turn it over a lot. But he’s got a lot of guts,” Van Gundy said.

With both teams looking weary and tired from 48 minutes of physical basketball, Nelson put the Magic ahead for good at 89-86 when he banked in a 3-pointer from the wing. He then iced it with another 3-pointer with 1:59 left that put Orlando up 92-86.

The Magic fed off Nelson’s fighting spirit and now they believe can make this a series. Orlando returns home for Game 5 and should the Magic win the pressure shifts to the Celtics in Game 6.

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Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy is always very candid when it comes to evaluating his team, and that includes himself.

The Magic seemed like it couldn’t do anything wrong after the first two round of the 2010 NBA playoffs. After three games in the Eastern Conference finals, the Magic can’t seem to do anything right. The Magic is on the verge of getting swept out of the playoffs after dropping Game 3, 94-71, in Boston.

The Celtics are now ahead 3-0 in the series, and no team in NBA history has ever recovered from an 0-3 hole.

“The most disappointing to me was I didn’t have our team ready to play. That’s the most disappointing,” Van Gundy told reporters after Game 3. “I’m the coach of this team, and it starts with me. I’m not happy with where I had my team tonight. I thought we were a step late on everything. They just riddled us. Again, I’ll take the blame on that too.

“They were a step ahead on every play and I thought they worked harder than we did. I thought they outcompeted us.”

Stan Van Gundy can't bear to watch what is happening to his team. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

With their backs flushed against the wall, Van Gundy said the knee-jerk reaction is to pack it up and retreat. But it’s hard for him to fathom a team that has been so mentally tough all season long will go down without a fight.

“What I said to them after the game is there are a lot of guys in that room who have worked long and hard to bring this franchise up a long way,” Van Gundy said. “That game out there tonight, not just the score but the way it went, is disappointing because that’s not who we are. So, how do we pick it up? I mean, I think between right now and Monday night there’s gonna have to be a lot of soul searching and a lot of pulling together.

“The easiest thing to do for anybody when things go badly is to escape. That’s all we want to do. It’s going to be everybody’s natural reaction. I’m not saying our guys will do that. That’s everybody’s natural inclination. It takes very mature, very mentally tough people to stand up and say, ‘No, I’m part of this and we’re gonna pull together.’ ”

Magic center Dwight Howard had another horrendous game and was held to seven points on 3-for-10 shooting and had just seven rebounds in Game 3.

“Right now, we gotta find ourselves,” said Howard. “Seem like tonight our bodies was here but our minds wasn’t. Our hearts seem like it wasn’t into it, I don’t know.”

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Rajon Rondo beats Jason Williams to a loose ball in the second quarter that set the tone for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Kevin Garnett called it “the play” of the 2010 playoffs. Doc Rivers described it as an “unbelievable play.”

It occurred with under nine minutes left in the second quarter and the Boston Celtics leading the Orlando Magic 34-17. After a ball was deflected into the Orlando backcourt, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo tracked it down by outrunning Magic point guard Jason Williams. But it wasn’t your average run-down. Rondo dove head first, reached between Williams’ legs to gain possession of the ball, got up and dribbled past Williams for a layup. It was one of those signature moments in the playoffs, and it pretty much summarized how the series is going.

“If that didn’t give your whole team energy nothing will,” Rivers said of Rondo’s amazing play that brought the crowd to a frenzy at TD Banknorth Garden and may have killed the Magic’s spirit. Boston went on to win Game 3, 94-71, to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

“I just wanted it. I just wanted to make a play on the ball,” said Rondo, who has been locked in throughout these playoffs and pieced together another solid outing, scoring 11 points and delivering 12 assists. He was also responsible for Boston’s 12 steals.

Garnett called it pure grit, pure hustle that has defined Rondo’s young NBA career.

“I told him after the game, when we were in the back, that it was probably the play of the playoffs for me,” Garnett said. “Pure basketball, pure hustle, pure I-want-it-more-than-you type of play. And I thought it was a foul too, but that’s just me. I’ve said this about Shorty, man, he’s in a zone. He’s just showing the world what he’s made of. The future is scary for youngin.”

Video courtesy of NBA.com

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