Final: Magic 93, Celtics 90 -- Late rally falls short for C's

Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving missed a pair of potential game-tying 3s as time expired, allowing the Orlando Magic to escape the TD Garden with a 93-90 win. Nikola Vucevic had a game-high 24 points and 12 rebounds in the win while Jonathan Isaac added 18 points and 12 assists.

Kyrie Irving had 17 of his team-high 22 points in the second half but the rest of the C's offense struggled mightily for the better part of 48 minutes, shooting just 40 percent from the field and 22.5 percent from 3-point range (9-of-40).

The C's return to action Thursday night in Oklahoma City in a nationally televised battle with the winless Thunder.

Third Quarter Notes

• C's starters come out relatively flat again the offensive end with Morris getting the nod in place of Gordon Hayward for his minutes restriction.


• Evan Fournier and Nikola Vucevic working a nice 2-man game which helped the Magic stretch out the lead to 13 as Fournier piled up the assists (nine through three quarter).


• Brad Stevens went even deeper into his bench to find a spark midway through the quarter with Rob Williams making his NBA debut. He had an empty box score in three minutes but had a nice stop against Vucevic in the post.


• Irving found a rhythm in the quarter to lead the C's offense in the frame by scoring 11 of their 25 points.


• C's just missing a ton of wild open shots thus far. Al Horford has been particularly bad from deep, missing five of his six wide open looks.

• Stevens sticks with the bench unit again with Ojeleye in place of Yabusele to start second quarter.


• That grouping slows down Magic on defensive end, largely thanks to some defense by Ojeleye on isolations. Easy transition defense


• C's offense also comes alive a little bit thanks to shots around the rim. Theis finished a lob, Smart made a couple post ups and the C's had a couple good cuts that they couldn't connect on. Still, they were able to stop a 20-9 Magic run.


• Ojeleye and Theis had some really nice minutes on the defensive end during their extended stint.


• Starters came back midway through the quarter and showed some more defensive energy but their shooting woes remain. Irving is just 1-of-5 from the field, while the starters are a combined 2-of-11 from downtown.


• C's closed out the quarter with a 7-2 run to trim the deficit to 3 after a corner 3 from Irving and a pullup jumper from midrange to close out the half.


• Nobody cracked the double digit scoring mark in the first half for the C's.

• C's offense continues to be very sluggish out of the gate. Outside of a couple open 3s from Gordon Hayward, the C's have been ice cold from 3-point range (0-of-4 from others) in first six minutes.


• Jonathan Isaac has been very active early for the Magic scoring nine of their first 17 points. He's combined with Vucevic to go 7-of-7 from the field.


• Tatum and Irving still settling a bit too much for midrange jumpers, while Horford and Hayward got caught in no man's land a few times.


• Marcus Morris and Marcus Smart first one off the bench for Hayward and Tatum. They provided little resistance at first and with Magic pushing the lead into double digits, Stevens went to the all bench unit with Yabusele and Ojeleye in the final four minutes of the frame. Stevens has gone 11 deep even without Aron Baynes healthy.


• Magic should be up by more but they continue to chuck up 3s with limited success. They started 2-of-10 from inside the arc, and shot over 65 percent from the field inside the arc.

• Aron Baynes will sit out with a sore hamstring suffered during Saturday's win over the Knicks. Marcus Morris also remains a game-time decision with a sore left knee.


• Gordon Hayward will return to the starting lineup after a one-game absence for left ankle recovery


• The Celtics remain at polar opposites of the NBA rankings spectrum through three games with the third best defense in the league thus far and 27th overall on the offensive end.


• Jayson Tatum is the first Celtic to have over 60 points and 30 rebounds in his first three games of the season since Kevin Garnett in 2008.