Celtics are back from the dead in blowout win over Magic

They actually might’ve leapt out of their casket.

Friday’s 121-94 win over the Orlando Magic was like the sun finally breaking through storm clouds for the Boston Celtics. The reigning champs have personified the mid-season melancholy with an absolutely brutal couple of weeks. They were 2-3 in their last five heading into the matchup with the Magic and desperately needed to show some semblance of winning basketball.

Boy, did they ever.

Right from the get-go, the Celtics were surgical with their offense. On the team’s very first possession, Jrue Holiday needled a bounce pass to Kristaps Porzingis for an easy layup. It was clear that the team was locked in.

It might sound silly, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched from the ninth floor of TD Garden as the Cs struggled to put the ball in the basket early in games this year. The game’s usually a few minutes in by the time I look at the scoreboard and am bewildered to see that they’re somehow 1-9 from distance.

Now, I’m not a “they need to stop shooting all the threes” guy, but they’re certainly at their best when they’re not firing one up at the first opportunity, ESPECIALLY at the beginning of games. There’s no faster way to make yourself tense by missing a ton of quick threes.

On the contrary, their best offense has always been fueled by drives (that often lead to clean threes), which we saw a lot of on Friday.

Boston took as many shots from inside the restricted area as they did from beyond the arc in the first quarter (five). It certainly helps that all 10 of those combined attempts found the bottom of the net.

Of course, I was at home sick and couldn’t look up at the big board to admire the team’s efficient work.

A lot has been made of offensive struggles putting more pressure on the defense during the team’s recent skid.

Their more focused start to this game set the tone for a sharp night on both sides of the floor.

As noted in the final score, the Cs only allowed 94 points to Orlando. Their intensity on the defensive end was night-and-day from what they showed up in Toronto on Wednesday. They had essentially rolled out the red carpet for any Raptors player who felt like scoring a bucket.

Against the Magic, it was much different. Orlando had to work for every look that they got. Everything was tough.

“Today we looked like a completely different animal,” said Kristaps Porzingis postgame.

Take this Caleb Houstan airball for example. The miss capped off 24 seconds of lockdown defense for the Celtics. Sure, it was wide-open, but it wasn’t the shooter that the Magic wanted.

Another great example is this Cole Anthony turnover. His drive was completely cut off, and he was left with a hot potato as the offensive three-second counter was underway. He winds up throwing a bad pass which could’ve easily turned into a Jaylen Brown dunk.

The Cs had the Magic in jail. They held them to just 41.5% from the field and 15.6% from long distance. Like Pozingis said, they were a “different animal.”

It was also nice to see Boston avoid playing like a CYO team in the second half. Almost all of their recent losses can be attributed to not closing games.

Not only did the Celtics hold onto the win, they actually managed to more than double the halftime lead (12) by the time the final buzzer sounded.

“I thought we answered the call from a physicality standpoint, consistently,” said Joe Mazzulla. “Our last game against Orlando, we did a great job for half the game. This time, we did it the entire game.”

Overall, the team looked more connected than they’d been. Porzingis, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown all had excellent nights and dominated this game at different points. It was encouraging to see with all of the discussion about the starting lineup struggling as a unit.

There’s still work to be done but this win could be the foundation for a strong close to the season’s first half ahead of the All-Star break.