Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo (left) shoots over Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals series in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday. The Celtics won 95-92. [John Raoux / Reuters]

They lost their cool, then lost the game.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the Orlando Magic might have just lost any realistic hope of returning to the NBA finals.

With frustration evident and the season very possibly slipping away, the Magic lost Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Boston Celtics 95-92 on Tuesday night, falling behind 2-0 in the best-of-seven series and putting themselves into a most precarious hole.

"We didn't play smart enough," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I thought we played hard enough."

That they played "hard enough" was never more evident than in the final moments when down by three points, the Magic got a critical stop with 9 seconds left.

An example of not "smart enough" was that after getting that rebound, J.J. Redick didn't call a timeout until 3.5 seconds remained.

"I made a mistake," Redick said.

A critical mistake, for certain. The best Orlando could manage from there was Jameer Nelson's running 35-footer that fell short.

What should have happened?

"Immediate timeout," Van Gundy said.

Instead, time ran down, and now, time might very well be running out on the Magic. Not only do they need to find a way to win four of the next five games against a team that has lost just three times so far in the entire postseason, but at least two of those wins will have to come in Boston - where the series shifts for Game 3 on Saturday night.

"Just because we're down 2-0 doesn't mean the series is over with," Magic center Dwight Howard said.

It was an Orlando ungluing and it came at the absolute worst time.

The Magic argued calls, plenty of them. Vince Carter waved his arms in disbelief when called for his third foul, incensing referee Bill Kennedy enough to call a technical. They argued with each other at times, Redick and Howard appearing to exchange a couple of words when Redick threw the ball away in the third quarter. They smacked their hands in disgust, like Rashard Lewis did after a rebound evaded his grasp.

"If we got caught up in anything, it was forcing plays offensively," Van Gundy said. "It boggles my mind how many times you're going to go in and just try to jump into people and think you're going to get a foul called and complain about the call. Just keep doing it and doing it and doing it and doing it. We're not taking good enough shots. That's the bottom line."