Hedo Turkoglu made 25 points and 12 assists as the Orlando Magic dethroned the Boston Celtics with a convincing 101-82 victory over the NBA champions on Sunday.
The Magic led for most of the game and pulled away from the Celtics in the final quarter to win the best-of-seven series 4-3 and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
Orlando will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers for a place in the NBA finals, starting with an away game on Wednesday.
"We had a lot of confidence and these guys always believed in each other," Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters. "We had to prove ourselves over and over all season and we really proved what kind of basketball team we are tonight."
Dwight Howard added 12 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots for the Magic, who made 13 of their 21 three-point attempts and led for all but 36 seconds in the game.
"When we go out there and have fun and play the way we can play, we can win," Howard said. "We're a different team now.
"Our goal is to win a championship."
(Reuters via China Daily May 19, 2009)
