JD Davison, Jordan Walsh, Torrey Craig, and Sam Hauser all checked into Sunday’s Recreation 1 with simply over a minute to play. After placing the opener out of attain, the Boston Celtics have been clearing their bench en path to a 1-0 collection lead over the Orlando Magic.
The trail to that second wasn’t at all times a reasonably one, although.
Boston really discovered themselves down one level to the Orlando Magic at halftime, after the guests erased a 12-point deficit.
How’d they do it?
Effectively, they turned up the physicality on the Celtics.
Orlando began crashing the offensive glass to create second probabilities for themselves, whereas making Boston work for each alternative on the offensive finish. The ultimate seven minutes of the primary half have been unkind to the Cs, who scored simply six factors because the Magic climbed forward.
In line with head coach Joe Mazzulla, Boston’s chilly spell began on the glass.
“I believed as a result of we have been getting out-rebounded, we weren’t capable of get out in transition there, and that type of slowed us down,” mentioned Mazzulla of his group’s robust end to the primary half. “So, I believed our poise for 1 / 4 and a half was nice. I believed their physicality bothered us in the midst of the second quarter, like within the six offensive possessions (the place we struggled).”
The group’s poise is a really “on the nostril” level from Mazzulla.
I’d be remiss to take a seat right here and faux like there weren’t indicators proper from the bounce, that the Magic have been going to try to play a bodily recreation.
For instance, this “no straightforward buckets” kind of foul from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope despatched Jayson Tatum crashing to the ground early within the first quarter.
We additionally obtained our first glimpse at the kind of hustle that the seventh seed was going to be enjoying with when Anthony Black checked into the sport and ripped down three fast offensive rebounds. He and different Magic gamers made a behavior of disrupting the rebounding course of for Boston, even when they didn’t fairly seize the board.
There have been plenty of deflected and tipped rebound probabilities, like this, early on.
These performs didn’t make an enormous influence on the time as a result of Orlando struggled to attain. However as soon as the ball began to seek out the underside of the online, issues modified.
Requested Jaylen Brown concerning the shift on the half:
“They have been extra bodily than us. The second half, we type of shifted that.”
“There’s gonna be quite a lot of that this collection. Cannot anticipate nothing much less. It is gonna be extra battle than it’s talent. Our guys obtained to be able to battle.” pic.twitter.com/jvyAL0DAtX
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzell) April 20, 2025
Happily for Celtics followers, the group didn’t sit again and let the Magic proceed to regulate every thing. In actual fact, they have been capable of flip the sport on its head by matching the Magic’s bodily model of play.
Veteran guard Jrue Vacation spearheaded that third-quarter resurgence for them.
“His particular person protection took on the problem of his matchup, and I believed he did an ideal job on each ends,” Mazzulla defined. “His protection led to our offense.”
Vacation turned his defensive depth to the max and had Franz Wagner in a torture chamber. Wagner scored simply eight second-half factors, after pouring in 15 within the first.
The 2-time All-Star’s physicality created offensive alternatives for the group, as Mazzulla mentioned. Extra particularly, these alternatives got here his method.
Check out these clips.
Vacation makes Wagner look foolish on two separate events, then comes down and drills a pair of threes.
Boston’s Dr. Evil took over, scoring 9 factors, dishing 4 assists, and swiping a pair of steals within the interval.
It’s exceptional how upset Bradley Beal obtained with the concept of getting to play an identical function for his Phoenix Suns this season.
Nonetheless, the remainder of the Celtics’ squad adopted go well with, dialed their protection up, and have become extra disruptive. They pressured six turnovers within the third alone and fully modified the momentum.
Orlando’s passes have been getting deflected and/or stolen, Boston was working in transition, and the lead was unexpectedly as much as 13 heading into the fourth quarter.
Their championship-level response was a reminder of what it takes to compete for a title. Orlando did an ideal job of disrupting their mojo, and it didn’t sink them. This gained’t be the final time we see a group try to outwork the Celtics or push them round this spring. The true check can be in the event that they push again.
