The Boston Celtics were defeated 113-96 by the Orlando Magic on Friday (Saturday, Manila time), strengthening their chances of advancing to the NBA’s new in-season tournament’s knockout round.
The Magic intimidated the league-leading Celtics in the second half to extend their victory run to six games, two days after defeating the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
The Magic were led by Moritz Wagner, who scored 27 points off the bench, and Paolo Banchero, who contributed 23 points and seven rebounds.
With 26 points, Jayson Tatum led the Celtics, while Jaylen Brown added 18, with 12 coming in the first quarter.
In the last three quarters, Brown made just two of his seventeen attempts from the field as the Magic tightened their defense, delivering the Celtics their worst loss of the year.
Regarding the Magic’s defensive effort, Banchero said, “That’s what we take pride in.” That’s what we do best.
“We just come into every game focused on what we’ve got to do to stop the team in front of us (and) we did a good job tonight.”
Boston jumped off to an early lead, leading by eleven points at the half. They led by eight points at the half and by twelve points early in the third quarter until Orlando went on a 17-0 scoring spree to take a 67-62 advantage.
Boston was able to take the lead back twice in the third quarter, but the Magic dominated the fourth quarter, starting with a 10-0 run that was capped by a running layup by Moritz Wagner.
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Wagner outscored the Celtics 65–40 in the second half and added 13 points in the closing minutes of play.
The Magic finished group play in the new competition with a 3-1 record. With one game left, the Brooklyn Nets and the Celtics are tied at 2-1.
The tournament’s knockout round, which culminates in semifinals and the championship game in December in Las Vegas, will be accessed by the six group winners and the two wild card teams.
Designed to add intrigue to early-season games, Banchero said the new Cup-style tournament had been “huge.”
“I’m happy we won,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be in good position to move on.”