Final: Celtics 122, Magic 119 (OT) -- Celtics win third straight

The Celtics climbed back from a five-point deficit in the final minute of regulation by forcing overtime, setting the stage for 122-119 overtime win against the Magic on Sunday night. Gordon Hayward had a game-high 31 points in the victory but it was Jayson Tatum (29 points) was the hero down the stretch, scoring five points in the final minute of regulation to force the extra frame. Daniel Theis also pitched in with a couple of key blocks in the final minute of regulation and overtime to help seal the win.

The efforts from Tatum and Hayward made up for a lackluster effort by the starting backcourt in this one. Kemba Walker managed just four points on 1-of-9 shooting over 32 minutes while Brown struggled with his shot (7-of-19) but did manage to chip in with 19 points and 12 rebounds for his first double-double in Orlando.

Nikola Vucevic had a team-high 26 points for the Magic who were playing without three injured starters. Boston has now won three straight overall heading into a game with potential draft pick implications on Tuesday night against the Grizzlies.

— Celtics starting five came out flat in this one beyond Hayward. They were getting after it on the defensive end but couldn’t create good looks against an engaged Magic defense.

— Rob Williams and the second unit helped to shake things up on that front midway through the first quarter, providing a little needed offensive punch in the early going. Boston’s bench ended up chipping in with 18 first half points on the whole, including four from Timelord within a minute of him entering the game.

—Hayward really was the story of the first half from an offensive standpoint as he had one his best two quarters of the season, finishing with a team-high 18 points at intermission to go with 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

—Kemba Walker on the other hand struggled a bit, missing all five of his shots from the field, mustering just one point despite an increase in his minutes to 16.

—Enes Kanter saw some action despite a DNP-CD on Wednesday night. He was very active on the glass (8 rebounds) but has struggled to finish around the rim. He’s also piled up 4 fouls in 8 minutes.

—Semi Ojeleye knocked down a 3 for the fifth straight game. He’s shooting 45 percent from 3 in the bubble.

—Some productive ball movement in the first half against a locked in Orlando defense as the C’s piled up 15 assists on 20 made field goals.

—C’s settled in defensively after a rough start against an undermanned Magic squad. Vucevic (13 points) and Ross (9 points)will be the two weapons that will need to be slowed down to win this one.

• The Celtics wrapped up the third seed officially on Saturday night when the Heat dropped a close game to the Suns. That means the team's final three games will be meaningless when it comes to seeding but that won't stop Brad Stevens from getting some good run in for his starters in two of them. "You obviously want to have great health, but conditioning is a great part of that, so we want all of our primary guys to play at least two more times out of three. All of our sports science people and everybody else feels a full week in between games is enough – certainly don’t want more than that. We play our guys, nothing is set in stone yet, that’s the way we’re going to approach it.


• Stevens also indicated that Kemba Walker's minutes will be ramped up one more time ahead of the postseason this week as his knee condition continues to improve. "He looks good health-wise," Stevens said. "I think everybody agrees with that. He will continue to be ramped up for two more games. We’ll try to stick to a script where he plays between 30 and 32 minutes the next couple of games. That would be ideal."


• The Magic are still fighting to get out of the No. 8 spot in the East in order to avoid the Bucks in a first round matchup but they will be very shorthanded for this contest with key starters Aaron Gordon (knee) and Evan Fournier (illness0 sidelined. Jonathan Isaac also remains out after tearing his ACL last week while Massachusetts product Michael Carter-Williams will be inactive as well.


• The Celtics dished out 27 assists in Friday's win over the Raptors, improving their record to 13-0 when they hit that mark. Keeping those assist numbers high is something that the whole team is working on according to Gordon Hayward. "I think we’re all working on that as far as just making the right read, the right pass. It’s something I’ve done for a while, and some of it is just experience, but also just we have the guys too, so you don’t have to make a tremendous read. Sometimes the easiest one is the best one with our team. It just gets the defense moving, it gets someone else a step. That’s all you need is a step to gain an advantage. So I think the more we move the ball, the more we make the right read, the right pass, the more open shots we’re going to get, the more open layups, the more open attacks, the more free throws, all that stuff. It’s just hard to defend us when we cut, move and pass."