86 points? Really?
I wrote, somewhat provocatively, that the Boston Celtics would sweep the Orlando Magic in their highly-anticipated first round series that the sages will sing of for years to come. Except, this series isn’t looking like it will be one for the Encyclopedia Britannica. It’s looking like regular season fare that the Celtics might screw around in for a week and win anyway.
Some could argue that the Magic showed some promise in that first game, playing seriously physical defense in the first half and actually heading in the locker room with a lead. Admittedly, the Magic threw a heavy punch out of the gate. But it was nothing they couldn’t hack.
The Magic are a physically talented team, but their basketball is ordinary. Boston is a physically talented team that’s out here reinventing the wheel of basketball nightly. You want threes? They got threes. In fact, they got 40% or more of there threes, which in the Joe Mazzulla era means… they win. They’re 101-8 when hitting that percentage from beyond the arc. Good luck with that everyone else.
What did the Magic have? For starters, an incredible game from Paolo Banchero, who dropped 36 very-efficient points and hit some truly absurd shots. Though Boston was letting him have his seven threes balls — of which he made four — since he’s a pedestrian 32% shooter on the season. Franz Wagner had a decent first half, but completely disappeared down the stretch, occasionally launching a deep two with 16 seconds left on the shot clock like it’s 1977.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had pretty-whatever games, and Derrick White had a pretty-dang-awesome game. Good stuff from Pritchard as well. But as good as they were, that’s not why the Celtics won.
They won because the Magic only scored 86 points. What do they think this is, a geography test? A solid B+ is good in school, but isn’t going to cut it in basketball games. I don’t care if it’s 1977, 2025 or 3012. In the big leagues, you have to get to 100 points to have a chance, and Orlando’s offense is officially, certifiably nonfunctional. So, I’m feeling pretty good about that sweep take.
Fundamentally, these are two different tiers of basketball teams. The Celtics were given a quandary in the first half that took them all of four seconds to solve in the second, while the Magic petered out like a kid that just cannot keep going in the 2nd grade tricycle race and needs some orange slices. They get nothing from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Cory Joseph — who is somehow starting in the year of our lord 2025. Jonathan Isaac became their third leading scorer by default because he happened to hit a three in the second half.
So what did we learn from this game? Nothing. We already knew all this. After some proof of concept, the Celtics officially have no excuse for losing a game this series. And I bet everyone in that locker room agrees with me.
