MAGIC DEFIANTLY FORCE GAME 6

The sweat was still dripping down his face when Paul Pierce bid this city goodbye last week. The Celtics were heading to Boston for two games and were comforted by the thought of sweeping the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals. The Celtics’ next road game, Pierce thought, would be in Phoenix or Los Angeles in Game 1 of the N.B.A. finals. The farewell proved premature. An overtime victory by the Magic on Monday forced Game 5 here Wednesday, and Orlando sliced another game off the Celtics’ once-commanding series lead with a 113-92 victory at Amway Arena. Boston will host Game 6 on Friday with their series stranglehold downsized, 3-2. “I still look at it like we’re climbing a huge mountain, but we’re playing better,” Orlando Coach Stan Van Gundy said. A few days ago, the prospects for a Lakers-Celtics finals rematch of two years ago seemed certain. But from coast to coast, the Suns and the Magic have hammered reminders that no such series is concrete. Boston once had the answers. Now Orlando holds both the mental and physical advantages as the Celtics’ frontcourt was decimated Wednesday. Kendrick Perkins was ejected in the first half for a second technical foul, and in the third quarter Dwight Howard’s elbow sent Glen Davis crashing to the floor. As the rest of the Celtics raced upcourt, Davis tried to get up and fell to the floor again. He got up and stumbled to midcourt like a punch-drunk boxer, crashing into the arms of the referee Joey Crawford. Davis, who lost a tooth, went to the locker room when the quarter ended. The Celtics’ team physician Brian McKeon determined that Davis had sustained a concussion. “He’s a physical guy,” Boston Coach Doc Rivers said of Howard. “He’s doing what he can do and we just need to do a better job of taking the hits, I guess.” With his front court in disarray, Rivers inserted the seldom-used Shelden Williams, who had not played in the series, when Rasheed Wallace fouled out with just under five minutes remaining. The daunting odds of winning the series has been discussed repeatedly, much to the annoyance of the Magic and the chagrin of Rivers. N.B.A. teams are 93-0 in series in which they lead by 3-0. It is foolproof as a mathematical equation until one team breaks free of the past. The Magic used another simple mathematical formula Wednesday. Three points are worth more than 2. Jameer Nelson unleashed four 3-pointers, Matt Barnes made three and Mickael Pietrus and J. J. Redick each made a pair of 3’s among Orlando’s total of 13 in 25 attempts. Howard had 21 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. “We have a long battle in front of us,” said Nelson, who followed a splendid effort in Game 4 with 24 points. “It can be done just one game at a time.” The Celtics’ offense sputtered, never gaining its rhythm. Rajon Rondo, who struggled with muscle spasms in Game 4, scored 19 points, but missed 6 of 11 free throws. Pierce scored 18 points. “They were making shots,” Rivers said. “It’s tough to get a tempo when you don’t get misses.” Rivers even juggled his rotation in search of a spark and played the little-used Marquis Daniels and Nate Robinson for stretches in the second half. Daniels, too, sustained a concussion. The Celtics collapsed early as the Magic rediscovered its touch from beyond the 3-point arc. Six players combined for nine 3-pointers in the first half as Orlando surged to a 57-49 lead. “The team that has been the most physical has won the game,” Rivers said. “I thought it was us for the first three and Orlando for the last two.” He added, “We need to win one game, and let’s hope it’s the next one.” Shortly before the half ended, the referee Eddie F. Rush compounded Boston’s troubles. He tagged Perkins with a foul as Perkins wrestled with Marcin Gortat for inside position. Perkins showed his dismay by jumping up and down, shouting and walking away from Rush. Rush quickly assessed Perkins a technical for the outburst, and another when the decision further agitated Perkins. The technicals resulted in Perkins’s ejection and brought his postseason tally to seven, which draws an automatic one-game suspension. But the N.B.A. will review the sequence, and there is a chance Perkins’s second technical could be rescinded. In all, the referees slapped players with five technicals (three for Boston and two for Orlando). Orlando rebounded from a day that had an ominous beginning. Rashard Lewis, a nonfactor with a total of 28 points in the first four games, revealed at Wednesday’s shootaround that he was playing despite a viral infection in his stomach and felt drained early in games. He received intravenous fluid before Game 5 and responded with his best game of the series by scoring 14 points, including Orlando’s first 7 of the fourth quarter. “Regular season, I probably would have sat out,” Lewis said. “Not to make no excuses, it is the playoffs.” The N.B.A. also upgraded two Magic personal fouls to flagrant-1’s: Barnes shoving Kevin Garnett in the back, which caused Garnett to spill into Van Gundy in Game 3; and Howard’s pivot while rebounding that caught Garnett with an elbow in Game 4.