Celtics Win Game 1 103-86 behind dominant Derrick White performance

After a long 82-game season, the playoffs have finally arrived and in Game 1 of the Boston Celtics title defense against the Orlando Magic, Boston showed why they are the defending champions with a 103-86 win.

Derrick White led the way for the Celtics with 30 points on 10-18 shooting from the field and 7-12 from three. In a game where Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown didn’t have the best shooting nights, White stepped up huge for the Celtics offense. Payton Pritchard was clutch off of the bench for Boston as well, finishing with 19 points on 6-8 shooting from the field and 4-6 from three.

The Celtics dominant second half was the difference maker in the end as after the Magic took a 1 point lead into the half, Boston outscored Orlando 55-37. Their defensive intensity in the third quarter made the Magic struggle as Boston’s defense behind Jrue Holiday and Derrick White got the job done.

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In front of a loud and rocking TD Garden crowd, the Celtics got their first points of the game off of a Derrick White floater after stealing the ball from Paolo Banchero. However, both teams were locked in on defense early as scoring was hard to come by.

Franz Wagner was giving the Celtics fits early as he scored 7 quick points midway through the first quarter. Jaylen Brown, who was dealing with knee issues before the playoffs started, drew an offensive foul on the Magic, erupting the crowd and showing he looked okay.

Boston’s defense continued to clamp Orlando’s offense and Jayson Tatum found Al Horford for a corner three that opened up the Celtics lead a little more. After two questionable foul calls on Horford, Payton Pritchard came off the bench and hit his first three late in the quarter. A beautiful Tatum fadeaway gave the Celtics a 26-18 lead after the first quarter.

Derrick White led the Celtics with 8 points in the first on 3-4 shooting while Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner both had 7 points for the Magic. Boston shot the ball really well, going 10-18 from the field and 4-9 from three while holding Orlando to only 8-26 shooting from the field and 2-9 from three. One thing the Magic did have over the Celtics was their offensive rebounding as Orlando had 8 offensive rebounds to Boston’s 1.

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The second quarter began with Pritchard taking over as he got to the line for three free throws after being fouled on a three late in the shot clock and then came down off of a Kristaps Porzingis block for another three, forcing Orlando to call a timeout.

This Pritchard explosion was a part of a 14-4 run by Boston as they opened up their first double digit lead.

Both teams started to find a groove on offense out of the timeout as Pritchard and Wagner exchanged great up and under plays for easy baskets.

Led by Banchero, the Magic would answer the Celtics run with a 17-5 run of their own to take the lead with 2 minutes left in the quarter after Boston was up by as many as 12. Banchero started feeling himself on offense while the Orlando defense started to clamp down on the Celtics.

Wagner would hit a midrange jumper to increase the Magic’s run to 21-7 while Boston continued to look lost. White would force another steal and hit two free throws to end the quarter for the Celtics but Boston went into halftime down 49-48.

White continued to lead the Celtics in points with 16 at the half while Banchero led the Magic with 19 points. Boston’s hot shooting started to slow in the second quarter as they shot 7-20 overall but the Magic would find their shot, going 12-19.

The Celtics were getting killed on the glass in the first half as the Magic out rebounded them 23-19, 10 which being offensive rebounds for Orlando. Brown, Porzingis, and Tatum struggled against the Magic’s defense in the first half as they combined for only 16 points on 7-21 shooting.

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Jaylen Brown started the third quarter with a layup for the Celtics and that started a 12-2 run for Boston to regain the lead. White continued his hot shooting from the first half with an and-1 three that reignited the Boston crowd. Jrue Holiday fed into the crowd as he stole the ball from Wagner, hit a pull up three, and was fired up. Orlando called a timeout and Boston was up 10 once again with 7:29 to go in the third quarter.

Jayson Tatum continued to struggle shooting the ball as every layup he attempted rimmed out. Holiday and Brown were there to bail him out however as Boston opened their run up to 22-7 with under five minutes to go in the quarter. Tatum would start to get it going with a put back dunk and a layup that finally fell to opened up the Celtics lead to 15. Pritchard was noticeably hurt towards the end of the quarter after taking a shot by Cole Anthony but stayed in the game.

Boston ended the third quarter with a 78-67 lead and held Orlando to only 16 points after the Magic scored 31 points in the second quarter. Boston held Orlando to 6-20 shooting in the third quarter and forced 6 turnovers that led to Celtics points in transition.

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Before the fourth quarter began with the end of the third quarter as Franz Wagner was awarded two free throws as a foul was called at the buzzer. That didn’t slow down Derrick White who hit another three for the Celtics first points of the fourth. A Sam Hauser block led to a Payton Pritchard three and a quick timeout for Orlando. The timeout didn’t slow down Pritchard as he hit another three to open up the Celtics biggest lead of the game at 18 points.

A scary moment for the Celtics happened with 8:39 left as Tatum went up for a dunk and fell down hard on his right wrist after being hit in the air by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. It was upgraded to a flagrant foul on KCP but Tatum would miss both the free throws he shot, definitely a concern moving forward.

Concerns for Tatum’s wrist subsided immediately as as he knocked down his first three of the game. Banchero started to erupt with 9 straight points for the Magic but White answered with his 7th three of the game and his 30th point of the night which essentially iced the game.

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The Celtics Game 2 matchup against the Orlando Magic is Wednesday April 23rd at 7pm.