The Magic fail to build
on Wednesday’s big win against the Bucks as they fall 92-83 to the visiting Celtics.
The chant started as the Orlando Magic’s Jonathon Simmons stood at the free-throw line, waiting to take the second of two foul shots early in Friday night’s third quarter. “Let’s go Cel-tics! Let’s go Celtics! Let’s go Cel-tics!”
mantra occurs all the time at TD Garden in Boston, but on Friday, the sounds reverberated inside Amway Center in Orlando. Fans clad in Celtics green populated the stands, especially in the sections near the Celtics’ bench. And for most of the game, they were the only fans who had something to cheer.
The Magic couldn’t generate any momentum until the latter stages of the fourth quarter, after the game was out of hand. Misfiring on their open shots and unable to clear their defensive glass, the Magic lost 92-83.
“We couldn’t get anything going tonight,” said Nikola Vucevic, who scored only 12 points. “Me as well, especially in the first half, I had a lot of solid looks that I usuThat ally knock down. I just missed. I just thought we just couldn’t find our rhythm.”
The Magic made only 39.1 percent of their shots overall, but they actually outshot the Celtics and limited the Celtics to 37.8 percent shooting.
The difference was the Magic’s inability to collect defensive rebounds.
The Celtics grabbed 16 offensive boards — well above their season average of 9.2 — and outscored the Magic in second-chance points 20-8.
“There were a lot of rebounds to be had,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “So that’s probably good that we got a couple of
them.”
All season long, Magic coach Frank Vogel and his assistants have tried to teach their players about the importance of boxing out. On Friday, they warned their players to expect the Celtics’ 3-point attempts to create plenty of long rebounds. No luck. “Controllables,” Vogel lamented afterward. “That’s the disappointing thing about tonight’s game. Look, we competed. Our guys were playing extremely hard, defending at a high level, forcing a ton of misses. They shot 37 percent from the field. But we didn’t finish possessions.”
The Celtics (47-22) and Magic (21-49) entered Friday riddled with injuries.
Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis didn’t play for Boston. But Irving was ably replaced at point guard by Terry Rozier, who tallied 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
“It was a little ugly at the end,” Rozier said. “But we came out on top, and that’s the most important thing.”
Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross didn’t play for Orlando.
Gordon and Fournier are the Magic’s two leading scorers. Without them, the team has struggled to generate offense, with one major exception: Wednesday’s 126-117 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Magic made 18 of their 34 attempts from 3-point range that night — an unsustainable success rate.
On Friday, the Magic went 5 for 28 from beyond the arc.
“We couldn’t get anything going tonight . ... I just thought we just couldn’t find our rhythm.” Magic center Nikola Vucevic
The Magic scored only 31 points in the first half — their lowest point total in any half this season. They generated plenty of open looks at the hoop, but those shots didn’t fall. The Magic made only 32.5 percent of their first-half shots and had eight firsthalf turnovers.
“We weren’t making shots,” reserve big man Khem Birch said. “Just because you’re not making shots, you get fatigued during the game. You don’t have a lot of energy. When the offense is going, you get a lot of energy.”
Friday’s matchup was going to be a tough test for the Magic under any circumstance. The Celtics allow the fewest points per possession in the NBA.
Even easy shots weren’t so easy for Orlando.
With 5:17 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the Celtics ahead 80-66, Magic point guard D.J. Augustin sprinted upcourt for a fastbreak layup, but Celtics rookie Abdel Nader chased him down and blocked the shot.
Celtics fans roared.
jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/ magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.