Game Seven: Orlando Magic 101, Boston Celtics 82

Ray Allen. He was the talk of the entire series. When would the sharpshooter break out of his slump.

Hedo Turkoglu too could not be found this series. And in Game Seven there was nothing left for them to hold back.

Allen finally found his scoring touch with 23 points, but so did Turkoglu to the tune of 25 points. Orlando got the kick it needed extending a five point lead in the fourth quarter to 17 to get a 101-82 series-clinching victory at the TD Banknorth Garden.

This game was a work of beauty offensively. Orlando more or less used the pick and roll exclusively in this game and got Dwight Howard going to the basket early. The pick and roll worked especially well with Turkoglu attacking the basket.

Orlando was very rarely stagnant. The team dished the ball from inside out and, for a change this postseason, actually hit its 3-pointers. The Magic hit 13 of their 21 3-pointers. Don't think that did not matter. It was clear that when the first few 3-pointers fell through, that the Celtics would be in for a long night.

Orlando is nearly impossible to beat when those shots are falling. The team shares the ball so well and Howard takes up so much attention that it opens everything in the offense up.

What was more important is that when the Magic took the lead, they continued to attack and continued to stay aggressive. Orlando played exactly how it wants to offensively.

Howard was not even the most aggressive player offensively. He scored just 12 points on five of nine shooting. His best looks offensively came off of pick and rolls and the fast break. He struggled getting anything going in the post.

A lot of credit to Kendrick Perkins for the great defense this whole series. I am sure Howard will be happy to see Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the next series.

He made his mark on the defensive end. Howard's 16 rebounds and five blocks set the tone for the entire night. And once again he was a presence.

The Magic again did a great job on Paul Pierce. Every time he touched the ball he was draped by two defenders and had to work to get his points. For the most part, the defense kept him away from the basket. Pierce had a poor performance in Game Seven with 16 points on a paltry four of 13 shooting.

Completing the team effort, Mickael Pietrus stepped up off the bench with 17 points and missed just one shot. Pietrus was an underrated cog in this series. He played good defense off the bench and hit some big shots to keep the Magic offense going at times in this series. This was the reason Orlando signed him this summer.

If it were not for injuries all season, this would have been the kind of performance to be expected from him throughout the season.

As Stan Van Gundy said after the game, tomorrow we go back to work. Tonight is the night to celebrate a crucial victory for the franchise.

Orlando reached the conference finals for the first time since 1996 and appear to be firing on all cylinders -- much like at the end of the Philadelphia series -- entering the next round. Hopefully it does not wear off.