Magic Fall Flat in Home Loss to Celtics

By on December 8, 2016

 

The Orlando Magic ran out of gas at home on Wednesday, falling to the Celtics 87-117 on the second game of a back-to-back. At halftime, the Magic held a one-point lead while shooting 50 percent from the floor, but the second half saw the road-weary team collapse as they mustered only 37 points.

This lack of continuity by the Magic could be summed up by their three-pointers, which buoyed the offense during its lulls in the first half. At Halftime, Orlando was 8-of-10 from beyond the arc, but finished 11-of-26 as they struggled to find their shot in the second. In total, the Magic would hit just 26 percent of their second half shots, while allowing the Celtics to convert a searing 59.5 percent of theirs.

After finishing 4-1 on a five-game road trip, it seemed like the Magic, spurred by a new lineup, had finally found balance. Those expectations came crashing down during Wednesday’s to the Celtics, who were without their leading scorer Isaiah Thomas.

Most Magic players said after the game that they didn’t want to blame the loss on the schedule, instead sighting their lack of aggression.

“We’re not the only team in the NBA that has back-to-backs after road trips,” said Magic center Nikola Vucevic, “it’s part of the job we do and we have to adjust to that.”

“You’ve got to give credit to Boston,” said shooting guard Evan Fournier, “their offense is really impressive. It seems like they have three point guards on the court. Everybody can pass, everybody can shoot, the spacing is great, and the ball movement is great.”

The Celtics had all five starters in double figures, as their bigs swung the ball around the floor to shooters coming off of screens. Boston center Al Horford ran the offense from the high post, finishing with eight assists – one off of his career high.

Celtics’ shooting guard Avery Bradley was the recipient of many of those passes, as he finished with a game-high 23 points, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.

In addition to the usual suspects in the Celtics’ rotation, the away team was able to draw upon career games from two promising young players. Second year point guard Terry Rozier mustered up a career-high 16 points as he backed up Marcus Smart, who drew the start in place of Isaiah Thomas. Rookie wing Jaylen Brown also finished with 13, the second highest total in the young career of Boston’s third overall selection.

This loss drops the Orlando Magic to 10-13, and sends them on one of the most difficult parts of their schedule. This was the second of four games in five days for Orlando, who will travel to play Charlotte on the road this Friday before again returning home to play the Denver Nuggets on a back-to-back.

Celtics
STARTERS MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS
A. JohnsonPF 23 5-7 0-0 1-1 2 3 5 1 0 0 1 3 -4 11
J. CrowderSF 30 6-10 1-3 4-5 1 9 10 2 0 0 1 3 +26 17
A. HorfordC 29 3-9 0-3 4-4 1 5 6 8 0 2 0 2 +31 10
M. SmartPG 23 5-7 1-2 2-2 0 3 3 3 2 0 2 4 +19 13
A. BradleySG 33 7-14 3-5 6-7 0 4 4 3 1 1 1 1 +25 23
BENCH MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS
J. JerebkoPF 14 0-2 0-2 0-0 1 3 4 4 0 0 1 0 +15 0
J. MickeyPF 2 2-3 0-0 0-0 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 +2 4
G. GreenSF 8 0-2 0-1 1-2 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 -1 1
J. BrownSF 22 5-8 1-3 2-3 1 1 2 1 0 0 3 3 +8 13
T. ZellerC 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 +2 0
K. OlynykC 20 4-8 0-3 1-1 1 3 4 2 1 0 0 1 +16 9
D. JacksonPG 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 +2 0
T. RozierPG 26 6-13 1-4 3-4 1 4 5 2 1 0 0 1 +14 16
TEAM 43-84 7-26 24-29 11 38 49 29 7 4 10 19 117
51.2% 26.9% 82.8%
Magic
STARTERS MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS
S. IbakaPF 25 3-10 2-4 0-0 3 5 8 0 1 1 1 3 -22 8
A. GordonPF 26 2-9 1-3 0-2 0 3 3 4 1 0 2 4 -19 5
B. BiyomboC 26 1-2 0-0 2-4 2 3 5 0 0 0 1 3 -12 4
D.J. AugustinPG 24 4-7 4-6 3-4 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 4 -20 15
E. FournierSG 29 4-14 1-3 5-6 0 3 3 5 1 0 0 2 -18 14
BENCH MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS
D. RudezSF 5 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 -8 0
J. GreenSF 22 1-5 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 2 1 0 1 1 -12 3
N. VucevicC 27 5-14 0-2 2-2 1 9 10 2 2 0 4 1 -9 12
E. PaytonPG 28 5-8 0-0 0-2 1 3 4 4 1 0 2 3 -18 10
C.J. WatsonPG 4 1-1 1-1 2-2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 -5 5
C. WilcoxSG 4 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -5 0
M. HezonjaSG 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -8 2
J. MeeksSG 16 3-7 1-3 2-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 +1 9
TEAM 30-81 11-26 16-24 8 29 37 20 7 1 12 26 87
37.0% 42.3% 66.7%
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