Orlando Magic 83, Boston Celtics 78

In one game, Vince Carter proved everything that has ever been said about him. He took bad shots, slacked on defense and made lazy plays.

But in the fourth quarter and the game on the line, he showed the brilliance that still make him one of the more dangerous players in the league.

Carter finished with an inefficient 26 points on 10 of 29 shooting. But his isolation plays and killer instinct at the end of the game, including a fall away jumper over Paul Pierce that more or less sealed the game, propelled Orlando to a gritty 83-78 win at TD Garden on Friday night.

Both teams played very determined and gritty defense as neither could get much going to the hole. Dwight Howard was active and engaged defensively and deterred any drive to the basket if he was in the paint -- Kendrick Perkins was in foul trouble and picked up his fifth foul in the middle of the third quarter causing Doc Rivers to go with a Kevin Garnett/Rasheed Wallace front court that always seemed to keep Howard away from the basket; I think we will see that more in April.

It was actually interesting on Howard's part. Dwight had no role whatsoever in the offense outside of setting screens. He took only four shots and had only 11 free throw attempts. He did not really touch the ball much more than that offensively. But he stayed involved defensively even though he was pulled away from the basket. He certainly did not let the frustration of being virtually ignored on offense get to him.

The tone set by Howard and the defense early in the game carried through for much of the night.

The Magic got out quickly behind excellent ball movement and a few very nifty passes from Carter for open threes. Orlando built a 16-point lead in the first quarter, but watched it slowly evaporate as Boston ratcheted up its defense.

Much like Howard, Garnett acted like a deterrent to the rim and Orlando struggled to work the inside out game that makes its 3-point barrage so deadly. The Magic finished 10 of 22 from beyond the arc, but were hardly that good for most of the night. They hit them when they needed to.

The Magic certainly had their struggles. Orlando committed 21 turnovers. More than a few of them were very lazy -- including two intercepted passes down low to Howard by Rasheed Wallace.

I thought the broadcasters made a good point about Carter in that he sometimes makes lazy plays that have become habit since he had to carry a team -- New Jersey -- that had no chance of success.

On top of that, because Howard was pulled away from the basket, the Celtics had their way on the offensive glass with 14 offensive rebounds. They did not always take advantage of them and shot an uncharacteristically low percentage from the floor (34.5 percent) and from beyond the arc (two for 19). But the chances were there and the second chance points helped keep the Celtics in the game.

Orlando never trailed after building its big first half lead (and if the team did, it was only by a point or two) and held off Boston after the team tied the game late in the fourth quarter.

That is where Vince Carter proved his worth more than anything.

Carter was hte go-to guy in the fourth quarter and really displayed his skills in attacking the basket and making difficult shots. If there was any doubt that Carter would be more valuable than Hedo Turkoglu in late game situations, it was eradicated tonight.

Carter, for all his mistakes and missteps throughout the game, still had the confidence to take and make big shots and played a flawless final two minutes (OK, he had one blow by on defense, but for the most part was there defensively).

This was an ugly game. The type of game Boston usually wins.

The Celtics had plenty of looks they could have hit and they missed them. Part of that was Orlando's strong defense, which played its best game that I have seen so far. Part of that was sheer dumb luck.

But these are the type of games a good team has to win. It is not a statement or anything, just a good win on a bad night for both teams.