The Celtics found few advantages with their top-six players missing in Orlando. So few that the 96-78 loss to the Magic became their worst offensive effort under Joe Mazzulla and their least efficient showing since 2021. The visuals, compared to what the Celtics normally look like, were shocking. The team that constantly bends defenses to create threes made only seven in the loss and shot fewer than the Magic, who take the least per game in the NBA. Payton Pritchard struggled to lead the offense. Bench players in bigger roles failed to make shots.
“It’s a leadership jump,” Pritchard said after. “You gotta lead the group, make sure everybody’s involved, make sure everybody’s playing the right way. I didn’t do the best job of that tonight. There were certain times I let the game get out of control and they went on runs when you need a bucket or a stop or something like that. Some of those are on me for sure.”
Pritchard’s ball dominance in the loss left Baylor Scheierman with comparatively fewer opportunities to create despite him leading the team with 35 minutes. Scheierman shot 6-for-14, 5-of-7 on twos, and flashed a driving game the Celtics needed more of. Scheierman’s momentum toward a potential playoff role halted recently when Boston tightened its rotation with a fuller roster available. With the starters set to miss most if not all of the final two games, getting Scheierman as many reps as possible ahead of a postseason where he’ll mostly watch should become a priority. Especially after he emerged as the most encouraging of the team’s prospects late this season.
Among them, JD Davison shot 0-for-6 in another difficult night trying to translate his G-League MVP performance to the pros. Drew Peterson finished 1-for-4 despite mostly looking like he belonged. Jordan Walsh missed all three shots. The Magic created its most separation with Neemias Queta on the court. Few Celtics flashed in the loss, Luke Kornet continuing his scoring run, Miles Norris hitting two threes in his first extended NBA run and Queta tossing down a highlight slam in the lane. But the game mostly relied on Scheierman’s passing for its excitement. It’s his tangible skill that could fill a need in the back court next year.
Scheierman averaged only 11.3 touches per game through his first 27 NBA appearances, comparable to Torrey Craig and Queta’s amounts with two-second possessions that mostly saw him keep the ball popping through the perimeter. Those touches increased to 44 playing more minutes on Wednesday, far less than Pritchard’s 83, while posting three assists, but he didn’t receive the chance to run many pick-and-rolls or push the offense in transition the way his best college tape showed him as capable of doing.
Some of his best moments this year came late in garbage time with the ball in his hands. As a catch-and-shoot finisher behind the line, he’s down to 33.3%, and up to 55.6% on pull-up threes.
His only lob pass came running around a Kornet handoff, where the Celtics initially went as their source of offense to open the game. The two other feeds came slowing the ball down into the half court in transition, handing off to Sam Hauser, and swinging the ball through a passing sequence to Norris for three. Boston’s sets turned handoff-heavy with many off-ball actions to create Scheierman’s threes.
While the Magic made his shots inside the arc difficult and forced him to his off hand, the long distance on his threes seems to add to his inconsistency there. He fell to 32.9% from three on 70 NBA attempts with a 1-for-7 night.
While that skill will swing his success in the league in either direction, as it does for most role players, the Celtics should continue tapping into his potential playing with the ball in his hands. His spot-up shooting efficiency (1.31 points per possession) compares favorably to his facilitating teammates. There’s a need for guard play into the future on the roster and Davison’s shooting struggles challenge his ability to succeed there. Look at the difference how the Magic react to him above the three-point line.
The Celtics struggled immensely on offense in Orlando, but deserve some credit for slowing the Magic’s offense, too, through their mix of unique lineups and different defensive schemes. Aside from his three-point foul guarding Cole Anthony in the corner, the Magic didn’t drive him off the floor by attacking him. Boston lost his minutes by only eight in a 20-point defeat. Opponents have only finished 40.2% on their shots against him.
With Orlando running one of the worst pick-and-roll offenses in the league and scoring a low 0.87 points per possession in isolation, there’s a matchup opportunity for the Celtics to at least try playing Scheierman limited minutes in the first round if they face the Magic, who clinched the seventh seed position in the play-in on Wednesday, if Jaylen Brown remains limited. Brown sat out despite starting the day questionable and warming up to play, and the final two games should become about assessing the end of the team’s bench.
Pritchard will play to provide some structure, but after spending over six seconds on the ball each time he touched it in the loss, the next two games should become more about setting up depth playmakers in those spots. Especially as Pritchard prepares to potentially play off-ball more this postseason alongside starters.
“We didn’t really hit many of our good looks from three,” Pritchard said. “Sleep plays a part in fatigue if you get in at 4:30 (a.m. from New York). So it’s not easy, but it’s also not an excuse … that’s the disappointing part of it, but you learn from it, you grow from it and you move on … I thought some guys did a really good job tonight, we’ll have another two good opportunities coming up, so it’s really good for them.”
