ORLANDO — A sluggish begin and sloppy end doomed the Celtics on Friday evening in 123-110 loss to the Magic.
Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 32 factors to steer Boston, however he completed as a game-worst minus-21 in his 36 minutes. Payton Pritchard added 27 factors on 8-of-16 capturing, Derrick White tallied 16 factors and 10 assists, and Anfernee Simons bounced again from an unsightly first quarter to attain 11 factors within the fourth, together with a go-ahead 3-pointer with 7:23 remaining.
The Magic, bested by Boston in a five-game opening-round playoff sequence final spring, managed play from that time towards, rebuilding a double-digit lead with slightly below two minutes to play. And since this was an NBA Cup recreation, with a possible point-differential tiebreaker looming on the finish of group play, Orlando continued to assault till the ultimate buzzer, scoring an additional eight factors within the final 67 seconds.
The loss dropped the Celtics to 4-6 on the season and 1-1 in NBA Cup group play. They’ll face the Magic once more in a non-Cup recreation Sunday on the Kia Middle.
”It was a great recreation, and the trouble and physicality was there,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “We simply have to have the ability to execute on each ends of the ground all through a detailed recreation.”
The Celtics’ beginning 5, intact for the seventh consecutive recreation, got here in with a sterling 98.4 defensive ranking, the second-best of any NBA grouping that had logged at the very least 50 minutes collectively. However that group struggled to comprise the Magic within the early going.
After 3-pointers by Josh Minott and Pritchard gave Boston a fast 10-5 lead, Orlando proceeded to attain on seven straight possessions in opposition to the Celtics’ starters. Then, after a Mazzulla timeout and a spherical of C’s substitutions, the Magic obtained back-to-back buckets off offensive rebounds, then two makes off steals by Desmond Bane (27 factors) and Paolo Banchero (15 factors).
Simons was the offending get together on Bane’s swipe, and he was overwhelmed for an and-one dunk in transition shortly thereafter. These miscues obtained Boston’s sixth man pulled from the ground after two minutes, throughout which the Celtics had been outscored by 11 factors. He sat out the remainder of the primary half.
Orlando additionally hit 5 of its first six 3-pointers to energy a 24-4 first-quarter run. The Magic made 17 threes within the recreation — effectively above their season common of 10.4 — at a 47.4% clip.
“They had been simply hitting threes,” Pritchard mentioned. “They’re not identified for that. So we had been within the paint, and for probably the most half, we had been dwelling with these guys capturing. They hit some with contest, they usually had been simply hitting a few of these tonight.”
A brand new-look Celtics lineup that includes Pritchard, Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh, Sam Hauser and Luka Garza — 5 gamers who didn’t play a minute collectively in Boston’s first 9 video games — stopped the bleeding late within the first. Walsh, coming off by far his greatest outing of the season in Wednesday’s win over Washington, then remained within the recreation with starters White, Brown, Minott and Neemias Queta as Boston opened the second quarter with a 14-5 run that minimize Orlando’s double-digit result in 4.
After hardly ever enjoying exterior of rubbish time earlier than this week, Walsh has made an impression along with his defensive strain in back-to-back video games. On this one, he tallied 5 rebounds, two offensive boards, one steal and one block earlier than halftime.
Brown, Pritchard and White mixed to attain 22 of the Celtics’ 26 second-quarter factors. The Magic maintained a 59-51 lead at half, however Boston pulled even early within the third after Minott drew a foul on an aggressive crash, and Pritchard picked Bane’s pocket and canned a 3.
Then, Brown took over for Boston. Midrange jumper. Midrange jumper. Drive. Drive once more. Again to the midrange. He made seven consecutive area objectives to attain 14 straight Celtics factors, reaching the 30-point mark earlier than the tip of the third quarter.
Brown turned simply the fourth player in Celtics history to attain 30-plus factors in six of the primary 10 video games of a season, becoming a member of Sam Jones, John Havlicek and Jayson Tatum in that unique membership.
After Brown’s scoring binge saved the Celtics aggressive, a redemptive effort from Simons gave them their first lead for the reason that opening minutes. He hit three straight photographs, together with a pair of 3-pointers, to place Boston up 94-93. Energetic rebounding by Walsh and Gonzalez arrange Simons for his go-ahead triple.
Orlando dominated the house stretch, nevertheless, by capitalizing on a string of Celtics errors. Chief amongst them: two Minott giveaways; an open layup that Queta couldn’t convert, adopted by a transition take foul within the backcourt; and a Pritchard turnover that led to a fast-break and-one end by Carter. The latter put the Magic forward 112-100 with 1:23 to play.
The Celtics dedicated 11 fourth-quarter fouls, together with one drawn cost try by White that was overturned after a profitable Orlando problem. The Magic shot 31 free throws within the recreation to Boston’s 16, with Brown — extremely efficient at drawing contact on drives and pull-ups this season — attending to the road simply twice.
Different observations:
— Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley mentioned pregame that there was nonetheless “a bit of little bit of pressure” between the groups after their brawl of a first-round playoff sequence final spring, however this rematch was gentle on extracurriculars. There have been no flagrant or technical fouls on both facet, although Gonzalez did catch Franz Wagner (22 factors) within the face on one rebound try.
— The Celtics will play their ultimate two NBA Cup group play video games later this month at TD Backyard. The Brooklyn Nets will go to on Friday, Nov. 21, adopted by the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, Nov. 26.
