For the most part, the Magic were able to keep Ray Allen off of the three point line, and going into the 4th quarter, Allen had only made 1 three.  However, a quick outlet pass by a savvy veteran led to the Magic cross-matching, and this cross-matching gave allowed the Celtics to get Ray Allen open for three.

After a Kevin Garnett miss, J.J. Redick catches the outlet and drives the ball the length of the court, and attempts the lay-in.

It gets blocked, but Jameer Nelson follows it up and scores the putback.

Nelson needing to make the putback leads to two Orlando Magic standing out of bounds underneath the baseline as the ball goes through the hoop.

The key to the play is that KG quickly grabs the ball out of the rim, gets one foot out of bounds, and quickly outlets it to Rajon Rondo.  We have seen this type of outlet before, and it is effective because it gets the ball to your point guard as quick as possible.

The effect it has here is that it forces the Magic to cross-match.  J.J. Redick, who has been covering Ray Allen, needs to quickly pick up Rajon Rondo to prevent the fast break.

As Redick picks up Rondo, Jameer Nelson needs to stay with Ray Allen.

As the play continues, the Celtics run a pick and roll with Ray Allen on the wing.  the Magic defend the pick and roll by trying to double it.

This leaves KG open, and now the effect of the cross-match really becomes apparent.  Nelson sinks in on Kevin Garnett’s catch, which is the correct play if he is defending Rajon Rondo.  However he is defending Ray Allen, and when you defend Allen, you can’t sag off of him.  Especially when Dwight Howard is there to defend the basket.

KG makes the catch and quickly kicks it out to Ray Allen, catching Jameer Nelson out of position.

Allen makes the catch and knocks down the open look.  Here is the play in real time.  Pay attention to how quick KG gets that inbounds pass to Rondo.