Paolo Banchero collected 36 points and 11 rebounds to lead the magic and Franz Wagner added 23 points, but no other Orlando player scored by seven.
⋅ It was a mainly calm day for Tatum. At the beginning, he missed a pair of free throws, then pulled a 3 -point pointer that carved on the panel. These silent stretches sometimes remain a little with him, and he passed a clean look of the arc shortly after.
After sitting to start the second quarter, he missed another pointer open to 3 points and then removed the ball from his leg. He went to the break with only 6 points and 2 assists on shot 3 for 9.
⋅ The biggest question for the Celtics entering these qualifying series was whether Jaylen Brown would resume his usual burst which had been reduced by bone bone bone in the last six weeks. But he looked great in the first quarter and showed any sign that anything is never going.
He took a four -minute hard spill in the match but quickly rebounded. A few moments later, he converted a driving lay-up. The Celtics are one of the best teams in the League to trigger chances of transition after the opponents made baskets, and after a Wagner field deposit, Brown rushed in the other direction and made an acrobatic and unbalanced lay-up.
The only index that the Celtics alleviate Brown in the action was the fact that he started the game to keep Cory Joseph rather than Banchero or Wagner, although everyone keeps everyone in the Boston diagram. At the end of the second quarter, after Banchero began to really make his way against Boston, Brown played a few goods as the main defender.
⋅ Al Horford generally does not say much to the referees, apart from asserting that a bullet which was excluded from the Celtics should have really had to be called in the other direction. But his favorable reputation may have helped him at the end of the first quarter after being called for pushing Anthony Black on the ground during a post-up. Horford immediately trampled towards the nearest official, pushing Black away while he was going, and was done directly on the referee’s face as if he were a baseball director. But no technical fault was called. Maybe it’s worth being known as a nice guy.
⋅ The Celtics took an advance of 26-18 in the second quarter, but coach Joe Mazzulla was probably a little concerned with the margin of shooting. Orlando had eight other attempts in the field than the Celtics thanks to his work on offensive glass. Boston was lucky that the magic was only 1 for 8 on the second chance shots in the first quarter.
⋅ Boston took an advance of 32-20, his biggest in half, on an animated possession that started with a Kristaps Porzingis block and ended with a 3-point pointer Pritchard who led to a magical dead time. But things opened in the rest of the quarter.
The Magic, which struck a barrel of 31.8% of its 3 points during the regular season, connected on 5 out of 9 during the period. For the Celtics, during this time, Tatum, Brown and Porzingis combined to go only 2 for 13 on the ground in the quarter. This combination allowed magic to push in front and take an advance of 49-48 at the break. Banchero and Wagner have combined to score 34 of Orlando first half points.
⋅ The problem for the Celtics opponents is that Tatum, Brown and Porzingis can escape through difficult attacking games, then all of a sudden, there is someone like Holiday to manage.
The Celtics goalkeeper struck a pair of 3 traction points in the first minutes of the third quarter, the second after his own flight. Then with 5:27 on the left, he came with another flight and drained a 3 points from the top of the key which made 66-56, and he then added a pair of help to help the Celtics to take an advance of 74-59, their biggest.
⋅ There was an unusual game at the end of the third quarter. The two teams went to their benches, but when they returned to court, officials announced that an examination determined that Brown had increased Wagner with 0.5 seconds. It also does not seem that magic has challenged the play. Wagner struck the two free throws and the fourth quarter started a few moments later. But the sequence did nothing to change the momentum. The Celtics only needed 90 seconds to take control with an 8-0 race, triggered by Pritchard, which did it 86-69.
Adam Himmelsbach can be contacted at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @Adamhimmelsbach.
