Magic pushes Celtics to limit

They’re one step away from getting a chance to play through King James -- and the right to play for a bejeweled championship ring.

Are you kidding?

Is this a prank? A Disney production?

On the brink of elimination, the Orlando Magic is thisclose to playing in its first Eastern Conference finals since 1995, and how they found their way to this perch is improbable stuff.

The Magic had to escape the Boston Celtics, 83-75, and their own foibles Thursday night at Amway Arena to force a deciding Game 7 against the defending champs on Sunday.

The winner earns a trip to face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and that survivor plays in the NBA Finals.

You thought the Celtics had special powers in this series? How about the Magic? They won despite not consistently doing what they do best -- shooting the basketball, from short range, long range or at the free-throw line.

Need a guy from Turkey to make a game-breaking three-point shot after missing 10 of 12? Hedo Turkoglu’s your man.

Need the point guard who’s making fans queasy to score on a playground floater -- his maddening specialty -- to give them a three-point lead with 1 minute 52 seconds left in the season? Rafer Alston’s got this handled.

Need the All-Star center who complained about his coach’s not delivering him the ball enough to score 23 points and grab 22 rebounds?

Dwight Howard is some kind of campaigner, or as Celtics Coach Doc Rivers joked, “I guess Dwight was right.”

Counted out by most everyone after losing heartbreakers in Games 4 and 5 to the Celtics, the Magic stayed alive by winning Game 6 the Celtics’ way -- by grinding and gutting it out.

Orlando shot just 36.6% from the field, 23.1% from the three-point line and missed 14 of 31 free throws. A Magic team that couldn’t score against the Celtics’ vaunted defense scored the last eight points.

“Everybody was like, ‘How are you going to be after two close losses? How are you going to be after the thing with Dwight? And I just kept saying, ‘We’ll do what we always do,’ ” Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said.

“Our guys will come and play. We didn’t play great, we didn’t make a lot of shots, but we fought hard. And so did Boston.”

The Magic forced 22 Celtics turnovers. They trailed all game until Rashard Lewis (20 points) made a jump shot for a 66-64 lead with 8:38 remaining.

Alston, a liability most of the series, made a three-pointer for a 75-73 lead. Then with the Magic leading 76-75, he deposited a seven-foot floating jumper to make it 78-75.

And then there was Turkoglu. Struggling throughout the series, he made a three-pointer with 1:23 left for an 81-75 lead to secure the trip to Boston.

Howard scored 12 points on five of 10 shots at halftime -- the entire total he posted in the Game 5 loss in Boston.

Teammates found him and he was everywhere, corralling 10 offensive rebounds.

“Game 7, everything is on the line,” Howard said. “At the end of the game, we should be ahead. I do believe that.”

Why not?

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bschmitz@sentinel.com