The Boston Celtics around Dennis Schröder celebrated an important win against the weak Orlando Magic after the crushing defeat against the Chicago Bulls two days ago. The last strong Franz Wagner also remained pale.
Orlando Magic (2-7) – Boston Celtics (3-5) 79:92 (BOXSCORE)
The rookie, on whom all eyes were on after his 28-point explosion, ended up with 9 points (4/10 from the field and 1/7 from downtown) and never really found his rhythm. No other Magic player found his throw either, Cole Anthony and Wendell Carter Jr. were the most successful throwers on their team with 13 points each. Moe Wagner scored a threesome (1/4 FG) for 3 points in nine minutes.
At the Celtics, Jaylen Brown was the best man of the evening, the swingman sank 10 of his 17 throws for 28 points. Dennis Schröder, however, had to fight again with his throw and only hit a meager 4/11 from the field (8 points). Jayson Tatum had a similar experience, who needed 16 throws for 14 points (4 hits) and again took some difficult finishes without keeping an eye on the – sometimes completely – free teammates. But that had only recently been an issue with the Celts.
Laut Adrian Wojnarowski (ESPN) there was a meeting with all players in the run-up to the game, in which the criticism of Marcus Smart after the Bulls defeat was discussed. However, this was probably not very effective. “It got emotional and you may not have done yourself a favor,” said the insider, speaking of problems that the team had been dragging around for a long time.
NBA: Celtics have a hard time finding their way into the game
So it took a full half before the Celtics found their way into the game. Wagner got off to a decent start and sank his first two throws for an early Magic lead. On the other hand, Schröder had less success, who left all of his three litters in the first quarter, so that the home team finally went into the first break with a narrow lead.
On the Celtics pages, Brown in particular found answers to a quick 8-0 run by Magic and made sure that the Celts only had a break of -2 (44:46). The low score was not a result of the strong defenses of the teams, but rather from the weak offensives. Both teams did not hit 30 percent of downtown, seemed unimaginative in the half-field offensive and liked to delay the game, which did not increase the attractiveness.
At the beginning of the third quarter, Magic continued in a similar way and the three attempts flew dizzyingly far past the ring. It took eight tries for the Magic in the person of Carter Jr. to score their first point (a free throw) of the quarter – after six minutes! Different picture with the guests. They came out of the break much more concentrated, increased the intensity on both sides of the field and, thanks to an 18: 1 run, set themselves apart for the first time.
NBA: Magic completely out of the way after halftime
The Magic were completely irrelevant at this point. In the zone there was no getting past the strong Robert Williams and nothing wanted to fall from outside. Defensively, the lack of a physically strong center made itself felt and Williams grabbed one offensive rebound after the other.
Schröder also had some good scenes and snapped up the freshly substituted Moe Wagner once properly. After a lay-up from Smart, the Celtics even moved away to +21 with two minutes to play in the third quarter – the decision. Orlando managed to shorten it to -15 with a small run in the last quarter, but it shouldn’t get any closer.
In the end, the 79 points were the fewest that the Celtics had conceded in three years – only 27 opposing field goals had not been there for over six years. However, this is largely due to the Magic’s cast selection.
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