The Celtics hit the practice floor on Wednesday with a specific plan in mind now that the Orlando Magic have clinched the seventh seed.
“They have a DNA about them, they're well coached, they have a lot of depth,” Joe Mazzulla said after the long session. “There's stuff you can take from every game. And at the same time, they were missing guys in the first game as well … So really just focus on the DNA of what they do, who they are, when they're at their best, and kind of take it from there.”
Who they are at their best is a physical defensive team that likes to lure teams into slugfests. The Magic allowed the fewest 3-pointers taken and made all season. Even though the percentage against them is good (36.5%, tied for 21st in the NBA), the volume is so low that they finished the season with the league’s second-best defensive rating (109.1 points allowed per 100 possessions).
“They switch. They have a lot of great defenders,” Jayson Tatum said. “They kind of funnel you into the paint. They're a big team. They have a lot of guys that will go at you, especially guys off the bench that make it difficult. So something that you gotta be ready for."
The Magic have held Boston to their lowest 3-point volume (33 attempts on December 23) and percentage (7-40, 17.5% on April 9). In fact, the three games against Orlando were their lowest, fifth-lowest, and 13th-lowest 3-point volume nights this season.
And in case you’re thinking that percentage stat is a fluke because the top six players didn’t play, Boston also shot 8-33, 24.2%, in that December game, their fourth-worst outing.
Boston is 8-5 in those 13 games with 40 or fewer 3-point attempts. We can expand it to 41 attempts and Boston is 9-7.
The bottom line is the Celtic offense is best when they're putting up a good amount of 3-pointers. It can’t get too out of whack, because they're 5-4 in their nine top-volume games. The key for Boston is keeping it balanced. And that means that the Celtics need to fight for some of these shots instead of just falling into a trap of taking what the defense gives them.
“Finding things in our actions, in our offense where we create advantages, that's very important,” Tatum said. “Sometimes you gotta beat your match up and that's part of what the playoffs is about as well.”
Tatum is going to be a big part of that. His ability to get into the paint and make the right reads will be paramount against a tough defense like Orlando’s. He has to draw the defense in and find shooters on the perimeter. If he can’t find them in the corners, then the Celtics have to take advantage of their unicorn.
Kristaps Porzingis might be a matchup nightmare against switches by posting smaller guys, but his shooting ability can help punish drop coverage designed to draw drivers to the paint where they get swallowed by the Magic’s size.
“I’m sure there will be opportunities,” Porzingis said. “They’re gonna run us off the 3s, but that’s gonna give us possible opportunities for other things, and yeah, me being able to shoot deeper outside is only going to benefit me and the team. So, yeah, we’ll take what they give us.”
More than that, the Celtics have to bait the Magic into giving what the Celtics want.
“At the end of the day, it's about getting the right shot, getting the best shot, depending upon what their coverage is, what their matchups are, and handling the physicality,” Mazzulla said. “The goal is to get the best shot we can every time down, regardless of what that is.”
A BUNCH OF HACKS
The Magic were one of five teams to commit 20 or more fouls per game this season, which led to opponents scoring about 18 points a game from the line. And while the Celtics might benefit from a few added charity points, the bigger issue is all the fouls that don’t get called.
“Of course the intensity is higher. There’s a bit more physicality,” Porzingis said. “But that’s all part of the game and you just get used to it. Just like a regular season game, some games you get more foul calls and some games the referees just let go of the game. And you adjust as a player, so I don’t think it’s going to be night and day difference from the regular season.”.
The Celtics have been known to … ahem … inform an official about their disagreement with the whistle (or lack of one). Tatum is the biggest culprit, but he seems aware that this part of playoff life.
“It’s going to be my eighth season going into the playoffs and you should just expect that you’re not gonna get no calls,” he said. “Where there’s a ref that lets you play a lot more, lets you get away with a lot more on both ends, right? There’s probably some shit that we get away with. So just know that going in, just expect to be fouled, expect them not to call it, and just worry about the things that you can control.”
As much as I appreciate the opening to throw this back at Tatum after his first playoff tech, he’s right about the Celtics needing to adapt to the playoff game. The first team to blink and give up the psychological advantage will be in big trouble.
“It's the playoffs, so I would imagine that everyone's going to play us tough, and it's our job to play them just as tough,” Mazzulla said. “So I expect it to be a very tough, physical series. As I said, they're very well coached, they have a lot of versatility and they got a lot of talent. So I respect from here on out, every game is going to be a fight.”
DUKE-ING IT OUT
Tatum is friends with fellow Duke product Paolo Banchero. Tatum was in the league for five years before the Magic star became a Blue Devil, which means Banchero was marveling at Tatum as a high schooler and saw him as a mentor in college.
“He’s a guy I’m very familiar with, one of the guys I go to for advice and stuff like that,” Banchero said after the Magic beat Atlanta last night. “Now we’re competing. The best way for me to show my respect is to give him my best effort and go at him as much as I can.”
Tatum wouldn’t have it any other way.
“That's how it should be, right?” Tatum said after practice. “He's trying to lead his team In a playoff series and figure out ways to win. I’m trying to do the same thing and just shifting your mindset to, it's the playoffs, so now just having an understanding of like, no friends out there. Nothing else matters besides doing everything that I can to help my team win. It’s not really time for anything else.”
ADVICE FROM THE MASTER
If there's anyone on the Celtics who knows how to deal with injuries, it’s Porzingis. He and Jaylen Brown are among the team’s closest friends, and Porzingis has offered up a tip or two about getting through the pain.
“We definitely talked about it, just because of my history also with some of the knee stuff that bothered me in the past,” Porzingis said at the Auerbach Center. “I gave him my point of view and what I thought could help him, and he did the things necessary to be as healthy and feeling good as possible for this run that we’re about to have. And he looks good. He looks good. He’s always saying that he feels good, but he actually looks good, and that’s the most important.”
The Celtics released a little hype video that featured all of three seconds of Brown playing basketball, which at least confirms his participation in the proceedings.
You locked in? We locked in. pic.twitter.com/LdalClTHL8
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 15, 2025
Porzingis wouldn’t share specifics about his conversation with Brown.
“Not to go into too much detail, but stuff that just has helped me,” he said. “It helped me, and we have some similar stuff, maybe. He has something going on; maybe I know more or less what it is, so I just gave him my point of view.”