On this very weekend a calendar year ago, the Celtics were swept by the Orlando Magic in their own building in a two-game miniseries, the beginning of a four-game losing skid to Orlando. However, this time was time was different.
After falling to the Magic in embarrassing fashion on Black Friday, losing by 17, the Celtics looked motivated on Friday night, and it resulted in a commanding 128-111 victory over a team that entered the night third in the Eastern Conference.
Boston had a lengthy injury report. The green were without Al Horford (rest), Kristaps Porzingis (calf), Dalano Banton (illness), and Luke Kornet (Adductor tightness - an injury Mazzulla mentioned pregame will sideline Kornet for about a week). All those injuries could have led to excuses for Boston. Especially for a team playing their third game in four nights.
Instead, they came out and took care of business.
“It starts with the leadership of Derrick [White], through Jayson [Tatum] and Jaylen [Brown],” Joe Mazzulla said postgame when discussing his team not giving into excuses. “It just says a lot about the guys to come out on a back-to-back, short-handed, and bring the right mindset and intensity.”
Tatum led the way for the Celtics, pouring in a game-high 30 points on 11-of-22 (50%) shooting, snagging six rebounds, and dishing out four assists. The effort marked Tatum’s 10th 30-point game this season. H is one of just eight players with double-digit 30-point games this season.
Brown continued his phenomenal play, finishing with a game-high +20 plus-minus, scoring 18 points on 8-of-15 (53.3%) shooting and dishing out four assists. Brown also was great on the defensive end, contesting four shots and registering a block and a deflection.
The 27-year-old threw down some emphatic dunks, yet when asked about those slams, Brown redirected the focus to his defensive efforts.
“I also had a couple of steals, a couple of blocks,” Brown said postgame. “I'm gonna have to start running my own campaign for First-Team All-Defense. It's cool. I'm really locked in on both sides of the ball... I'm doing my job and more on the defensive side, whether people want to pay attention to it or not."
With the win, the Celtics advanced to 13-0 at home, and now, dating back to last season, have won 20 straight regular season home games for the first time in 37 years. It also marks just the second 13-0 start at home in franchise history, trailing only their 18-0 start in 1957-58.
Here are three takeaways as the Celtics make a statement in their win over the Magic.
Picture perfect offense
After a bit of a slow start, a spark from Payton Pritchard was all Boston’s offense needed to get going. Pritchard came off the bench and knocked down three corner threes in the first quarter, opening the floodgates for the Boston offense.
Orlando entered Friday night ranked third in defensive rating (108.7), surrendering just 108.9 points per game to opponents this season. Boston’s 128 points scored was the second-most Orlando has surrendered this season – and they did it without their third-leading scorer in Porzingis.
Led by Brown, the Celtics played with a fast tempo that was too much for Orlando to overcome.
The Celtics shot 48-of-92 (52.2%) from the field and 18-of-42 (42.9%) from deep. Impressively, this marks the ninth occasion in their 13 home games where Boston achieved a shooting percentage of 50% or higher. They have also shot 40% or better from deep in nine of their 13 home games.
The Celtics shot 17 corner threes Friday night, well above their 8.3 average entering the night – and knocked down 10 of them (58.8%). They averaged 3.5 makes per game entering Friday night.
Tatum and Brown combined for 12 shots in the restricted area, as the team shot 19-of-22 (86.4%).
The high-percentage looks were a result of some fantastic ball movement from the Celtics, as 31 of their 48 makes were assisted.
“I see a significant difference in the trust the guys have in each other than I did in the beginning of the year because it just comes with time,” Mazzulla said when discussing the high assist numbers postgame.
From the screening to the pace, there were a lot of things that won’t show up in the stat sheet to like from the Celtics’ offense Friday night.
Strong defense
It was truly a connected effort on both ends for the Celtics.
Forcing turnovers has been a problem for the C’s this season, but they dominated in that regard Friday night.
Boston forced 21 turnovers, their second-highest total this season, marking their second game this season with at least 20 takeaways. Their 21 forced turnovers resulted in 26 points on the other end.
The Celtics registered a season-high 14 steals. Both Derrick White and Sam Hauser notched four apiece. For Hauser, the four steals doubled his previous career-high.
Boston also totaled seven blocks – Three of which came courtesy of Neemias Queta, who was the Celtics’ only active center.
The Celtics won the turnover battle 21-11, advancing to 8-0 when they commit 11 or fewer turnovers.
Full team effort
By the start of the second quarter, everyone available had already checked in. With three rotational guys inactive (Porzingis, Horford, and Kornet) out, the Celtics needed their “Stay-Ready Group" to step up, and they responded in a big way.
Led by Pritchard, who scored 21 points on 7-of-10 (70%) shooting from the field and 6-of-7 (85.7%) from deep, Boston’s bench outscored Orlando’s 47-33. The Celtics’ 47 points off the bench was their second-highest total this season.
For the most part, every player that checked in off the bench had a positive impact on the game for the Celtics.
“A lot of guys put in a lot of work behind closed doors,” Brown said postgame. “It’s great for them that when they get that opportunity, they come out and they ball.”
Boston’s bench was a bit of a concern entering this season, but as the season has progressed, they have shown they are more than capable of competing.
Honorable mention
The last time these two teams met, the Celtics built up a 12-point lead early in the third quarter. A lead that was quickly erased courtesy of a 17-0 Orlando run, as the C’s were outscored 30-18 in the third.
On Friday night, the Celtics led by 13 at the half, and that lead ballooned up to 23 entering the fourth quarter.
The third quarter was Boston’s best quarter of the night, as they outscored Orlando 34-25, on 11-of-20 (55.0%) shooting from the field and 7-of-12 (58.3%) from deep.
A step in the right direction in what has been a concerning trend.
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