When the chips were down and the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year was doubting himself, as were others, he knew where to turn for a pick-me-up. 

A conversation with a two-time NBA champion, one who had overcome a deficit of his own to win a title, turned that around. 

“After we lost the game, I was like, 'Oh, man, I feel so bad,' " Dwight Howard reflected on going down 0-3. “And I just kept telling myself, ‘Don't stop. Don't give up. Just keep fighting.’ I talked to a couple of people, one of those people was Hakeem Olajuwon. Me and him had a great talk. He just inspired me to keep playing.”

Olajuwon’s words of encouragement helped transform Howard’s meager seven-point showing in Game 3 into a 32-point performance in Game 4. He overcame four fouls to stay on the court for 43 minutes, grabbing 16 rebounds along the way to lead the Magic to their first win of the Eastern Conference semifinals. 

While Howard’s comeback showing fueled the Magic’s 96-92 victory, the other members of his team found plenty of motivation of their own before they even stepped on the floor on Monday night. 

The Magic believe surrendering homecourt advantage in Games 1 and 2 should have been inspiring enough, but it was a 23-point steamrolling in Game 3 that put them on the brink of elimination. A lack of effort and hustle was apparent on the court as the Celtics walked all over their energy-deficient opponent. 

“If you can’t get motivated from getting embarrassed like that, then you don’t belong on this team or playing this game,” said Rashard Lewis. “They came out and pretty much embarrassed us. Not only that, we were down 2-0 and it was a game that we needed to win. And we didn’t even make it a game. If we weren’t motivated to come out and win tonight, then something’s wrong.”

By the time they reached Game 4 down 0-3, the Magic had heard all the jeers and insults imaginable. After all, they were a second-seeded squad 48 minutes away from being upset by a team many doubted would survive the first round. 

Celtics fans brought brooms to the Garden in anticipation of a sweep, the Boston crowd began a “Beat LA” chant before the Magic had even lost Game 3 and just about every player who scored on Howard had been labeled as “kryptonite.” 

But one jab that stuck out had a stinging rhythm to it. 

“We are not Magic, we are tragic,” Marcin Gortat recalled. 

The Magic knew that if they could not steal a win in Boston, their season would live up to that insult. They accepted the harsh reality, though, and took responsibility for the criticism. In response, they used it as a driving force in a must-win Game 4. 

“It was a gut check,” Matt Barnes said of Game 3. “We realized all that, but we were playing like we didn’t deserve to be in this series. So everyone was well within their right to talk like that. Boston’s been talking trash all series but they’ve been backing it up, so there’s not much you can say about that. But like I’ve said the whole time, when we bring a great effort, we’re a hard team to beat.”

It took an extra five minutes in overtime for the Magic to live up to their expectations about their standard of play. Now that they have avoided elimination once, they are approaching the rest of the series one step at a time. They don’t view their future as one game away from elimination or three games away from advancing, but rather as two days away from Game 5 in Orlando. 

Even though they overcame the criticism and doubts in Game 4, they believe there is still have plenty of motivation to fuel them the rest of the way. 

“We’re not giving up. We’ve still go to go out there and play,” said Lewis. “They’ve still got to beat us one more time to advance to the Finals and we’re not stepping on the court to lose. Every time we step on that court, we’re going out there trying to win.”