BSJ Game Report: Celtics 116, Magic 83 - Another blowout and Boston charges higher in standings

Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics win over the Orlando Magic, BSJ insight and analysis. 

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics came out absolutely frigid from 3, but they were attacking and scoring in the paint. They settled a bit, but they maintained what felt like an 11 point lead for most of the game. Then, late in the third and into the fourth, the Celtics ramped up their defense and blew the doors off the Magic, pushing their lead out to 33.

Box Score

HEADLINES

Overcoming poor shooting: The Celtics were 0-8 when shooting less than 28% on 3-pointers this season coming into this game. They didn’t just win this game, they won it by 33. 

“Shots aren’t always going to fall,” Ime Udoka said after the game. “You make the right passes and have an off-night, you can still rely on your defense. When we weren’t shooting well early in the year that was a mantra of ours, continue to build on our defense and stay consistent until the shots start falling. As you saw in the second half, our quarters went 21, 28, 29, 38, so we continued to play the right way. The shots will fall, but we stayed consistent defensively.”

Defensive flex: Over the last 5:50 of the third quarter to the same mark in the fourth, Boston’s defense held Orlando to 7-18 shooting with 6 turnovers. 

“It's suffocating at times, with our size and versatility,” Udoka said of the team’s defense. “So, we got big wings, versatile bigs and obviously a pit bull for a point guard, so there's no real weakness out there, nobody to pick on, which is the case with other teams at times, so we're getting off to really good starts. … This is kind of what we envisioned and it's coming to fruition now that we have some consistency with our lineups.”

Movin’ on up: Boston has won five straight games, seven of their last eight, and 12 of their last 16. They are now tied with Toronto and Brooklyn for sixth in the East, 4.5 games out of first. Boston plays Brooklyn on Tuesday. Raptors and Hornets play tomorrow in a big game standings-wise as Charlotte has fallen 1.5 games behind the 3-team sixth seed group.

TURNING POINT

Orlando cut Boston’s lead to nine, 62-53, midway through the third quarter. Boston closed the quarter on a 16-8 run and then started the 4th up 8-3 to build a 22 point lead and it was over after that. 

FOUR UP 

Jaylen Brown: He had a tough shooting night like everyone (1-9 3pt) but when he was attacking, he was a monster. He led the Celtics with 26 points but it was his 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals that rounded out his game nicely. Destroying Mo Bamba with a dunk was also fun (scroll down for that). 

Dennis Schroder: A much-needed boost from Schroder, who has not been good since moving back to the bench. Boston needed someone to attack the basket and Schroder did that. He actually hit half his 3-pointers as well, and gave the Celtics the spark they needed.  

Jayson Tatum: A cold shooting night and, like Brown, maybe some questionable 3-point attempts trying to find his range. But Tatum had 9 rebounds and 7 assists, taking advantage of an Orlando team aggressively trying to take the ball out of his hands to find teammates in good positions to score. Tatum has been passing very well lately. 

Al Horford: 13 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists on the night for Horford but his contributions have been more about the timing of offensive rebounds and putbacks, or timely shots that help stop runs. 

ONE DOWN

Marcus Smart: I was originally going to go with no one in the down category, but I’ll nitpick Smart’s game a little just because he’s been so good recently. He had the 4 turnovers and just wasn’t as sharp as he has been recently. He did play pretty good defense, as usual, so I’m not killing him for having what amounts to a minor off night. His night probably would have looked better if some of Boston’s 3-pointers fell and he had more assists. 

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- By focusing on themselves, the Celtics avoiding their worst mistakes.

The Celtics are on a bit of a roll. Yes, they’ve been getting fat on the low-hanging fruit, but they haven't exactly had a ton of success grabbing those wins all season long. 

Not only are the Celtics beating these teams, they're winning by a lot, and they're doing so by focusing on what Ime Udoka calls “nameless, faceless opponents.” 

“Do what we do every night, regardless of who we're playing,” Udoka said. “We want to do what we do offensively and defensively. Be who we are, be consistent with that, and not look at a specific matchup or some personnel. We want to be who we are and that's the consistency we're looking for. And so it doesn't really matter who we're playing, we've really been focused more on what we're doing lately.”

The results are hard to deny. Over the last 15 games, Boston boasts the league’s best defense by a significant amount. Their defensive rating is at 100.8 in the stretch. Cleveland is second at 106.4. The difference between one and two is the same as the difference between two and 18. That's how far ahead Boston is. 

The season is long. Some teams built up their records on teams like this earlier this year and are coming back to earth. We knew Boston’s December was going to be bad going in. We knew their January could be better. And I said a few weeks ago that they had a chance to make a move. 

Boston has dealt with injuries all season and now they're healthy. On Tuesday, they face a team dealing with its own set of injuries and issues in Brooklyn. 

“It’s a test. It’s one of the three or four games that stand out to me - that we didn’t play that well this year, start to finish,” Udoka said. “Good test to go in there and play against some high-level guys. They’re obviously struggling, but they have so many weapons, even with the guys that are out. It’s a faceless opponent, continue to do what we’re doing, hold ourselves to that standard, regardless of who we’re playing. But in the back of our minds it’s a game we didn’t play that well at home, a chance to test ourselves against a good team though they’re struggling.”

We’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, but maybe the full health, the continuity, and the focus on the right things have shown us this team isn’t as bad as they seemed earlier, and neither is the coach. Patience can be tough at times, but in this case, it was truly warranted.