No magical moments for Pierce

He coolly gathered himself in the corner opposite the Magic bench and lifted a 3-pointer that arced easily through the nets. That three looked like it would be a fire-starter.

But the score was 85-71 in Orlando's favor and there was just 6:07 remaining on the clock.

You wondered if the Celtics' deficit was too much and the time was too little.

At that point, Pierce said he still felt he had a say in the game's outcome.

"[They're] up [14] with five minutes to go, I feel like we still have a chance."

But Orlando wouldn't allow the Celtics to get any closer than 12.

"When it gets to the point where there's only three, four, five possessions left, you look up and it's like it's going to be tough to make a run," he said.

In recent Game 7s, he was the executioner. He did it against Chicago, finishing with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. And in last year's epic against Cleveland, he had 41 points in 44 minutes. Against Atlanta, it was 22 points and eight rebounds.

In last night's 101-82 loss to Orlando, the Magic refused to let him be a hero.

"I thought he tried," said coach Doc Rivers. "Unfortunately, it's a human game. If it wasn't, then Paul would have been superman. And Ray [Allen] would have been great and [Rajon] Rondo. But their intentions were great, and that's all you can ask for."

On a night in which he scored a mortal 16 points, Pierce was only able to free himself for 13 shots, doing much of his scoring from the free throw line (7 of 10).

"We tried to double-team him virtually every time he got the ball anywhere on the floor," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy.

"I knew that was the game plan," Pierce said. "They've been doing it all series. Tonight a lot of times when I got the ball they sent double-teams, but that's not an excuse."

But in this situation, Van Gundy knew just who to key on.

"It wasn't just his history in Game 7, it was just who he is," Van Gundy said. "Paul Pierce is just one of the truly great players in our league. One of the top five or six. He's great in situations like this."

Pierce was aware of his capabilities.

"We've done it before," Pierce said. "When you're on a team that's fought back and come back from huge deficits throughout the year and in the playoffs in big-time games, then you feel like you can do it."

For the first time in a long time, Pierce found himself wanting to will a team to victory and being unable to. He said he'll put the game behind him.

"I take nothing from this," he said. "I'm going to scrap this. The only thing that I'm going to take from it is that we lost to these guys by 20 points, and if we ever see these guys next year in the playoffs, that's going to be in the back of my mind."

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.