Final Score: Celtics 95, Magic 92

With Rajon Rondo's emergence as one of the league's most dominant and disruptive guards, combined with a healthy and productive "Big 3", the Boston Celtics look just as good as their 2008 championship team.

The 2010 version of the Celtics appears to be every bit as tough and talented as the 2008 squad, and Boston has one man to thank.

The rest of the NBA's analysts, announcers, and executives are starting to realize what the rest of us have seen coming for the last year: Rajon Rondo is a superstar in this league.

Rondo's 25 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals carried Boston in Tuesday night's Game 2 victory over the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston now has a commanding 2-0 lead in the series, having taken both games on the road and able to come home for the next 2 games.

Rondo shot 10 for 16 in a very efficient Game 2 performance highlighted by several spectacular, game-changing plays. The 4th-year Boston point guard has improved dramatically in every season, and there still appears to be much more untapped potential from the former Kentucky guard.

The Boston "Big Three" has become a thing of the past. Rajon Rondo is the team superstar, and his veteran future Hall-of-Fame teammates recognize that.

"Everything we do goes through him now," said Paul Pierce. "That's the biggest difference between our team now and the team that won [in 2008]. Rondo doesn't run off of us anymore, we run off of Rondo."

Paul Pierce had quite a night of his own in Game 2. Pierce had 28 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in a dominating effort that led his team in scoring in the second consecutive game of this series. Pierce is playing at a very controlled pace and seems extremely comfortable in his matchup with Vince Carter. The Celtics small forward has gotten the best of his counterpart.

Vince Carter had 16 points in this game, but was extremely unproductive for stretches of the game. In typical Vince fashion, the Magic guard/forward went down to the floor in agony in the third quarter, appearing to have a major injury in his left hand or shoulder. He spent several minutes on the ground, winced on the sidelines for the cameras, and 2 minutes later was back in the game. Call it what you want, but Carter cannot shake his poor reputation of a guy that over-exaggerates injuries and fails in the clutch.

Carter was at the free throw line with 30 seconds left and his team down 3. He proceeded to miss both free throws badly.

Carter has carried the Magic at times this season, and he has been one of their most consistent scorers and playmakers. But it's tough to overlook his inability to come through in the biggest situations in the postseason.

The Magic were down all game in this very, very physical battle, but put together a furious comeback in the 4th quarter, similar to Game 1. Orlando took the lead at one point under 3 minutes, but Boston came back and scored with a Kevin Garnett jump shot. The Celtics would never lose the lead again.

Dwight Howard had a fantastic game in this one. Orlando's superstar took it upon himself to keep his team in the series and give them the best chance to win. Howard had 30 points and 8 rebounds, and was the go-to guy all game long. Despite not having any blocked shots, he altered plenty of Celtics shots and played noticeably effective defense.

But Howard's "Superman" effort was not enough to lead his team to a win. None of his teammates had games worth noting.

"I won't stop believing," Howard said. "And I won't let my teammates stop believing."

Dwight's doing the best he can, and must be praised for his play in Game 2.

His teammates, on the other hand, are coming up way short of expectations. Carter had 16, Jameer Nelson had 9, and Rashard Lewis scored 5 points in this game.

In fact, Dwight Howard scored 30 points on 9 of 13 shooting. The rest of Orlando's starters combined to score 36 points on 13 for 42 shooting. Continued play like that will result in a Boston sweep.

J.J. Redick played a great game for Orlando and carried the offense during stretches of the game. He scored 16 points with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. However, Redick made a critical error at the end of the game. He rebounded a Boston missed shot with 7 seconds to play in the game and his team down by 3. Instead of immediately calling a timeout to advance the ball, Redick dribbled up court, wasted 4 full seconds, and then called a timeout before reaching half court.

Orlando was left having to inbound the ball beyond half court with only 3.5 seconds left to play, and the shot they got was an off-balance 35-foot heave by Jameer Nelson.

"I made a mistake," Redick said. "I didn't hear the whistle initially. When I didn't hear it initially, I just kind of went, then I realized we should have called a timeout. So that was my fault."

But he shouldn't be so hard on himself. Without Redick, the Magic would not have even been in the game.

Boston dominated most of this game, almost blew it again, but held on for the win. Rondo and Pierce carried the team, and they all feel confident about their chances of finishing off the series back home.

"Our fans won't let us relax," Pierce said. "We're going to try and close it out in four games."

Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett combined for just 14 points in this game. That doesn't seem like enough from 2 of the Big 3. But Boston may not need huge games from all of their veteran stars in this series.

Not if Rajon Rondo keeps playing like a true superstar.

Game 3 will be played in Boston on Saturday night. Orlando will be treating this game like a must-win, but who knows if the outcome will be any different. The Celtics look much more confident, comfortable, and smooth in every phase of the game.

We'll see if Stan Van Gundy can rally his troops and make this one a series.