Shorthanded Magic defeat Celtics 108-104 in dogfight

Orlando’s physicality proved to be too much for Boston to handle in the second half.

Coming off a blowout win over the Chicago Bulls, the Celtics took a trip to Orlando to face off against a depleted Magic team. That didn’t stop the Magic clawing victory out of the jaws of defeat, stunning Boston as the Celtics lose a frustrating game 108-104.

Jaylen Brown led the way for Boston with 35 points on 15-of-29 shooting, but it wasn’t enough as the rest of the team struggled to get anything going offensively. The Celtics could not hit the three-ball in this game shooting 8/33 (24.2%) from beyond the arc. Tristan Da Silva (18 points), Trevelin Queen (17 points), and Jalen Suggs (16 points) led the charge for the Magic in a physical and sloppy game.

The game started with confusion as minutes before tipoff, Jayson Tatum was ruled questionable with an illness and Al Horford replaced him in the starting lineup. Tatum was officially ruled out at halftime.

Jaylen Brown would begin the scoring for Boston with a layup in transition and found Al Horford for an alley-oop layup. It took less than three minutes for all five Celtics starters to score as they opened the game on a 10-2 run.

Although the Magic were undermanned, they were able to keep up with the Celtics with their aggressive defense. The offensive end was a different story as Boston held Orlando to 8-23 shooting from the field and 1-6 from three with 6 turnovers in the first quarter. Brown started the game on fire with 15 points on 7-11 shooting as the Celtics lead 32-21 after the first twelve minutes.

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The second quarter started with Jrue Holiday putting Anthony Black in the weight room to score a tough layup and the Celtics defense continuing to clamp the Magic on defense. A very loud “Let’s Go, Celtics” chant began to fill the Kia Center like it was a game at TD Garden. However, Boston could not capitalize on the newfound home court advantage as they went ice cold, missing 6 straight threes to start the quarter.

An Al Horford three snapped Boston’s cold spell and the Magic fouled the Celtics into the bonus with just under 5 minutes left in the half. The Celtics took advantage of this and opened up their biggest lead of the half at 14 points. Orlando did a good job of running Boston off the three-point line but the Celtics used their physicality to bully the Magic in the paint. No better example of this was when Jaylen Brown backed down Anthony Black for a layup and Black proceeded to throw the inbound pass right to Jrue Holiday who was lurking under the basket for another easy bucket.

The Celtics took a 58-43 lead into the half on the back of their defense, limiting the Magic to 16-48 (33.3%) shooting from the field and 3-15 (20%) shooting from three. The Celtics shot the same percentage from three as Orlando but their 23-45 (51.1%) shooting from the field and 30 points in the paint was the driving force of their offense. Jaylen Brown continued to lead the way for the Celtics with 19 points on 8-13 shooting as The Stock Exchange of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White had 10 points of their own.

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Boston started the second half sloppy as they allowed the Magic to score 6 quick points and forced Joe Mazzulla to call a timeout not even two minutes into the quarter. The timeout seemed to work as the Celtics offense pushed the lead back to double digits, but the Magic’s defense did not let up, baiting the Celtics into turnovers to go on a 9-1 run to cut the deficit to 5.

Jaylen Brown put together an impressive sequence where he rocked the rim with a two-handed slam and then off of a Holiday steal, cleaned up a missed Luke Kornet shot for another basket and flexed to the crowd.

The Magic responded and continued to hound the Celtics on defense. The Celtics continued to force bad shots, turn the ball over, and allowed Orlando to tie the game. Cole Anthony started to feel it with back-to-back buckets and the Magic took their first lead of the night with 2:10 to go in the third quarter.

Boston stayed alive at the free throw line, but the damage was done — the game was tied 79-79 going into the fourth quarter. The Magic outscored the Celtics 36-21 in the third quarter after they only scored 43 points at the half. Boston’s three ball continued to be a problem as they were 5-24 from beyond the arc through the first three quarters. The Celtics shot a putrid 5-19 (26.3%) from the field and 2-9 (22.2%) from three with 7 turnovers.

Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images

The Magic’s hot shooting continued as they opened up the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run. The Celtics tried their best to respond but the Magic’s defense continued to give them fits. Jaylen Brown tried his best to will the Celtics back into the game, but the Magic couldn’t miss.

With under 5 minutes to go, emotions started to run high as a scuffle erupted. The Magic were asking for a review when Kristaps Porzingis and Jalen Suggs went face to face with each other, Goga Bitadze shoved Porzingis and chaos ensued. Bitadze was ejected from the game.

Out of the scuffle, both teams continued to trade baskets, but a Jrue Holiday three and a Jaylen Brown layup cut the Magic’s lead to 1 with 59.6 seconds to go. After a Magic timeout, the Celtics had a chance to take the lead, but Al Horford missed a three in the corner and Orlando came down on the other end where rookie Tristan Da Silva hit the dagger to give the Magic a 108-104 win.

The Celtics next game is on Christmas Day against the Philadelphia 76ers at 5 pm EST.