"Last night, Stephon Marbury finally got to where he hoped to return to one day. He got to the postgame podium.

Last Saturday afternoon, Marbury stood in a hotel lobby in Orlando, Fla., and chatted for some time about many things. He talked about the long, hard year it's been. He talked about what it meant to read Bill Russell's defense of him in the New York Post. Then, at one point, he joked, "I haven't got to the podium yet."

Last night, he got there because last night he got to the Orlando Magic. Got to them when it seemed like no one in white and green would. Got to them with 12 points in a six-minute stretch of the fourth quarter, turning a debacle into a remarkable 92-88 victory against the Magic that handed the Celts a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"Stephon stepped up and made very, very big shots," downcast Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said after watching his team blow a 77-63 lead in the game's final 8 minutes, beginning when Marbury dropped a 3-point jumper on them to start a 29-11 run that turned disaster into victory and Marbury into a man in need of a podium.

"We were trying to do a lot of helping and double-teaming off the point guards and I thought it was pretty effective in limiting Paul Pierce a little bit, but Marbury really made us pay," Van Gundy continued. "I think he was really the key to the game."

After not playing basketball for more than a year, Marbury landed with the Celtics in late Februay. The weather was cold and he was colder, but he thawed out so completely last night he burned the Magic to ashes.

"When I got into the game Paul (Pierce) had just kicked me out two shots and I missed both so when I went back in I was locked in," said Marbury, who after going 0-for-4 in the first three quarters was five-of-six during that pivotal six-minute stretch. "The timing was right for me to go in and do what I did.

"My mindset was to try and create something to change the flow of the game.""