The Orlando Magic eliminated another big-name opponent on Friday, beating the Boston Celtics 113-96, strengthening their bid to reach the knockout stage of the NBA’s new season tournament.
Two days after beating the defending champion Denver Nuggets, the Magic intimidated the league-leading Celtics in the second half to extend their winning streak to six games.
Moritz Wagner scored 27 points off the bench to lead the Magic and Paolo Banchero added 23 with seven rebounds.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 26 points and Jaylen Brown scored 18-12 in the first quarter.
Brown made just two of 17 shots over the final three quarters as the Magic tightened up their defensive defense to hand the Celtics their biggest loss of the season.
“That’s what we’re proud of,” Banchero said of the Magic’s defensive efforts. “It’s our business card.
“We approach every game focused on what we need to do to stop the team in front of us (and) we did a good job tonight.”
Boston got off to a good start and led by 11 after one quarter. They led by eight at halftime and by 12 early in the third when Orlando went on a 17-0 run to take a 67-62 lead.
Boston managed to regain the lead twice in the third quarter, but the Magic opened the fourth on a 10-0 run – capped by Moritz Wagner’s running layup – and rolled away from there.
Wagner scored 13 points in the final frame and outscored the Celtics 65-40 in the second half.
The result saw the Magic wrap up the new tournament group at 3-1. The Celtics fell to 2-1, tied with the Brooklyn Nets and each with a game to play.
The six group winners and the two wild card teams will advance to the knockout stage of the tournament which will conclude with semi-finals and the final in Las Vegas in December.
Banchero said the new Cup-style competition, designed to generate interest in early-season matches, has been “huge”.
“I’m happy we won,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be in a good position moving forward.”
