BSJ Game Report: Magic 95, Celtics 92 - Shooting fails Boston again is tough stretch continues

Everything you need to know about the Celtics loss to the Orlando Magic with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics started out slow again while Magic rookie Paolo Banchero came out hot, putting the Celtics behind double digits early on. They missed nearly everything they took, especially in a horrid second quarter when both teams were horrible. Boston woke up in the third, using an 8-0 run to take a lead at the end, but the Magic hung around and were able to pull ahead late and hold on in the final seconds. Boston has now lost two in a row, and four of their last five.

HEADLINES

Offensive rebounding still an issue: The Celtics only gave up six offensive rebounds, which is well below league average, but three of them came in the final 1:41. Markelle Fultz got two of them, one of them led to a Franz Wagner 3-pointer to give Orlando a four point lead, the other allowed the Magic to eat six seconds off the clock at the end. 

“In close games, those get magnified,” Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought we did a great job being physical for the majority of the game. Just in those moments, we have to be more consistent.”

Shooting regression: For the third time in four games, Boston’s 3-point percentage fell below 30%. They shot 12-47, just 25.5%, in this game. The Celtics had been leading the league in 3-point shooting, and now they're down to fourth. Their offensive rating had been up over 120 for a long time, now it’s down to 116.8, just percentage points ahead of Denver. Over their last five games (four losses), Boston has the league’s worst offense (101 offensive rating), four points below the next worst team. 

“I think over the course of the season we shot the ball so well to start that there's naturally going to be a decline,” Mazzulla said. “We just have to maintain our confidence and our trust. We have really good shooters, so we just have to stick with it.”

Over the last five games, everyone besides Malcolm Brogdon is shooting well below league average. Brogdon is at 36%.

Paolo Banchero is a beast: This Magic team has talent, and it’s led by Banchero who dropped 31 on Boston. He was entirely in his bag in this game, even shooting 6-7 from 3. That's almost 86% for a guy who came in shooting 27% from deep. He is going to make Orlando really good, really soon. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics cut the Orlando lead to 1 with 56.2 seconds left in the game, but they weren’t able to even attempt a shot until 3 seconds left because the Magic kept keeping possessions alive with offensive rebounds. 

TWO UP

Grant Williams: His late turnover was tough, especially considering he had played a big role in bringing the Celtics back. He didn’t shoot well, but I thought he mostly played well. 

Robert Williams: He played limited minutes again, but I thought he did fairly well, especially as the game went on. 

TWO DOWN

Derrick White: I thought he actually played well defensively, but his shooting has regressed hard. 

Al Horford: Rough shooting night for him. 3-11 from the field, 2-9 from deep. 

TOP PLAYS 

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Orlando is a tough matchup: The Celtics have played the Magic three times this season and all of them have been tough games. 

“They’re long, they’re organized,” Brown said after the game. “They’ve got a lot of 6’9”, 6’10” guys they put on the floor all at one time and it’s like an unorthodox kind of method. But so far it’s worked for them. They’ve won some games, more games than I think they’d won at this point last year, so you’ve just got to give credit to them. They’ve been a tough matchup for us this year.”

I’ve been worried about the Magic since before the season started. They have good talent that is starting to make some sense.  Getting Fultz back helps them, to Brown’s point, get a bit more organized. 

They are young and they haven't figured out how to win consistently, but I think the Magic are closer to being good than people think. 

- Time to make a choice: The Celtics had opportunities to win both of these games against Orlando and they blew every chance by making bad mistakes. 

Jayson Tatum has talked about this team making choices to be better, and it was really inspiring to hear him say it after they beat the Raptors. 

Now the Celtics have to make their next choice -- are they going to be the team that lets this get in their heads, or are they going to focus on playing the right away against Indiana? 

“I think we’re putting a lot of pressure on ourselves,” Marcus Smart said “You’re not going to shoot the way we’ve been shooting, play the way we’ve been playing all the time. We’re going to have games, we’re going to have games like this. The numbers are going to even out for us and we just have to go out and have fun and play, but we definitely have been pressing these last couple of games. Trying to be perfect, and understanding that we’re not perfect and that’s OK not to be perfect, and just go out there and play.”

I do believe it’s as simple as that. Make the choice, do the hard thing, and get back to the basketball we’ve seen.