Celtics Shake Off Magic Team That Once Bothered Them More Than Any

BOSTON — Jaylen Brown sat in Orlando stone-faced with the 18-29 Magic shocking the east-best Celtics for the third straight game, 113-98, in January. Brown turned the ball over five times and Boston lost his minutes by 20 points. After, he talked about teams that challenge the Celtics with length and defensive activity.

“It’s an unorthodox kind of team to play against. They got that Toronto feel, but even longer, kind of how Cleveland was maybe last year,” he said. “Where they played a lot of bigs, a lot of length, could cover ground any time you get to the basket. Long arms make those passes tough, they get a lot of deflections. Just a tough team to play against.”

Orlando started last season 5-20, missed the playoffs and only dominated Boston while flashes failed to translate into a postseason berth. Few will remember the Nick Nurse Raptors after 2019 aside from Celtics fans. Fewer look back at the Lauri Markkanen Cavaliers as a daunting foe. Boston played down to those teams in recent seasons for whatever reason, last year likely viewing the regular season as a destined ride back to the Finals. The Magic fulfilled their promise to begin this year, entering Boston 16-7, a top defense and following another blowout win over the Celtics in Florida. Yet Boston throttled them in consecutive second halves, winning on Sunday, 114-97, in a different and equally dominant manner.

Cole Anthony sat at shootaround Friday glowing over the Magic’s success against the Celtics. He outlined the game plan, highlighting three-point and isolation defense. He predicted a Moe Wagner masterclass against Wagner’s former team that disrespectfully waived him before he joined the Magic. He shied away from his feud with Celtics analyst Eddie House, previously noting him as an inspiration after he called Orlando awful last year.

“Them being that best team in the league, it just makes us go out there and want to compete against the best of the best,” Anthony told CLNS Media. “They’re a super talented team, they’ve added even more talent this year and they’ve clearly been successful. I don’t know, the game of basketball is a fun game and any given night, anyone can beat anyone and we just happened to come on the other side of that … if we can do a good job of limiting their attempts and doing a great job of packing that paint, we’re gonna have a great chance to win this game.”

The Magic tried to do that and took leads to begin both games, but after Boston overwhelmed them with speed, corner threes and small ball around Jayson Tatum’s aggressiveness on Friday, the Celtics returned Kristaps Porziņģis to the lineup and ran double-big to dominate the boards while still hitting 17 threes. Boston’s bench poured in 48 points on Friday against Orlando’s that had beaten them badly last month. Brown took over with one of his most balanced games as a Celtic, leading them to a 14-4 second quarter run with Tatum in foul trouble.

Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner faced overwhelming defensive pressure in the mini series, turning the ball over 11 times on 11-for-31 shooting on Friday before Wagner scored eight points and Banchero finished 4-for-15 in the second half after a hot start on Sunday. Moe Wagner scored eight points combined in the two games.

“(Brown and Tatum) understand the gravity they have as scorers,” Banchero told CLNS. “You can just see how slow the game is for both of them. Neither one of them looked like they were ever rushed, even when we tried to pressure or double. They stayed composed. Jaylen Brown got super hot in the fourth quarter and that sealed the game … I think you just look at them and you see how together they play, not just Jayson and Jaylen, but Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, (Al) Horford. Those guys give great minutes, great effort on both sides of the ball and no one does more than they’re supposed to, which I think is a huge thing for any good team. Guys gotta be willing to play their role and do whatever it takes for the team to win. I think Boston does a great job at that.”

Brown expressed needed importance midway through the series, acknowledging that Friday’s game was one of the most important of the year for him. He shined, combining for 20-for-35 shooting across the two wins with 49 points and 10 assists across the two wins. His control and balance between aggressiveness and patient playmaking answered criticism about his playmaking, while Mazzulla’s leadership, bench management and urgency contrasted his willingness last year to excuse bad losses like the Magic.

Porziņģis, who missed Friday’s game alongside Horford resting his calf he originally hurt in Orlando, returned with 15 points, 10 rebounds and a highlight put-back chasing down the three attempt he set up for White. He acknowledged that the Celtics addressed a laziness regarding the little things that caused their letdown at Orlando. They’ve only lost one game since, winning eight straight games alongside their In-Season Tournament loss to improve to 14-0 at home, ranking fifth in offense and sixth in defense while generating offensive rebounds, free throws, turnovers and seeing Brown and Tatum play some of their best defense all season.

Celtic basketball, Mazzulla called it.

“I think at that point, as we were heading into that Orlando game, we were beating everybody, we were getting wins, but we were getting maybe a bit lazy on some small details,” Porziņģis said. “Offensively, we were kind of a bit slower, and from that game, we sat down, looked at the offense again, cleaned some things up and not that it was a huge turning point, but … knowing that we lost that game, of course it’s going to give us extra energy, extra motivation and for a visiting team to come in this building and beat us, it has to be a special night for them. We truly believe that. We want to protect the home court and we did that tonight.”