Magic buried by Celtics’ 3-point shooting
Boston hits 23 from behind the arc on the way to 112-96 victory.
The Orlando Magic gave the Boston Celtics too much room to operate on the perimeter. The Celtics were all too happy to take advantage of the space. Again and again and again. Once Jaylen Brown and the Celtics got going, the Magic couldn’t stop them.
Brown scored 34 points and made 10 of Boston’s 23 3-pointers as the Celtics downed the Magic 112-96 at TD Garden on Sunday afternoon.
The Magic (14-28) were hoping to build off Friday’s 121-113 win over the Nets that snapped a nine-game losing streak. Instead, they’ll have to regroup ahead of a three-game homestand against the Nuggets, Suns and Trail Blazers — who had a combined record of 77-46 (.626) as of Sunday. The Magic and the Nuggets will play Tuesday at 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Florida.
Nikola Vucevic recorded his 29th double-double of the season with 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Magic, who fell to 0-2 this season against the Celtics. James Ennis, playing for the first time since Feb. 25, finished with 18 points and Evan Fournier had 16
for Orlando, which wound up shooting 38.1% overall.
Fournier (6-for-19) and Aaron Gordon (3-for-13) struggled with their shooting after combining for 69 points Friday against the Nets.
The Magic’s 3-point shooting also was lackluster. Orlando made 21 3-pointers on Friday but couldn’t duplicate that perimeter performance against Boston. The Magic started strong, making 6-of11 3s in the first quarter but went 5-of-23 the rest of the game.
The Celtics, on the other hand, had no such struggles.
Behind Brown, who was 10-of-18 from the 3-point line, and Jayson Tatum, who was 5-of-8, Boston wound up 23-of-54 (52.5%) from behind the arc. The 23 3-pointers are the most allowed this season by the Magic and were one short of the Celtics’ franchise record.
The Rockets made 22 3s against the Magic on Jan. 8.
“We weren’t aggressive enough and being into the ball,” Vucevic said. “We just kind of let them play to their strengths as a team and it’s just difficult. They’re a very good team. They have some very skilled players, guys that can shoot, that can really create off the ball. And so when you don’t get into them and make it hard, it’s going to be a tough night. They shot the ball very, very well, but a lot of it was also because we just didn’t make it hard on them.”
Magic coach Steve Clifford agreed.
“Brown and Tatum got going and we didn’t, except for stretches in the second half, we just didn’t have 48 minutes of the right [defensive] mentality,” Clifford said. “There’s a lot of things in our league you can get away with, with a five-out in particular. They have obviously a really, really skilled, talented shot-making perimeter. If you’re not into the ball, one, two or all three of those guys are going to get going, and then they’re hard to stop. And that’s what happened.”
Brown especially made it a long game for the Magic. He made his first two 3-point tries and wound up 2-of-4 in the first quarter. From there he went 2-for3, 3-for-5 and 3-for-6 from behind the arc, finishing 10-for-18 (55.6%). Brown was 12-for-24 overall.
Brown’s 10 3s were one short of matching Marcus Smart’s single-game franchise record.
Tatum was just as hot early. He made his first three tries from behind the arc and was 5-for-7 on his way to 18 points in the first half. Tatum attempted just one more 3-pointer, but it hardly mattered.
Boston has outscored Orlando 120-54 on 3-pointers in two meetings this season.
Tatum finished with 23 points and Kemba Walker had 14 for Boston (21-21), which snapped a threegame losing streak.
Orlando’s 3-point shooting carried it to a 31-27 lead after the first quarter. The Magic led 40-37, then went 1-for-7 with two turnovers in a 4:56 stretch as the Celtics went ahead to stay with an 11-2 run.
The Celtics, who led 56-48 at halftime, broke the game open with their 3-point shooting, scoring from behind the arc on five straight possessions to build a 75-54 advantage at the 6:54 mark of the third quarter.
The lead was 89-67 when the Magic made a push with a 16-2 run, capped by Fournier’s 21-foot jumper that made it 91-83 with 9:27 left to play.
But the Magic went cold and the Celtics responded by extending their lead back to double digits.
Orlando later had a chance to cut it to 10, but Fournier missed an open 3 from the wing and a long rebound led to an easy dunk by Tatum, giving Boston a 100-85 lead.
The Magic could get no closer than 14 and Clifford went to his bench with 3:53 to play and his team trailing by 17.