Magic beat Celtics regardless of one other huge Jaylen Brown: 8 takeaways

Boston Celtics

Boston gave up 38 and 39 within the first and fourth quarters, respectively.

The Magic handed the Celtics a 123-110 loss, giving the Celtics their first defeat within the NBA Cup regardless of one other 30+ evening from Jaylen Brown.

Listed below are the takeaways.

Jaylen Brown was nice, however …

Jaylen Brown is on a staggering run proper now, and there actually isn’t a lot an opponent can do to cease him.

Brown has mastered the artwork of getting his shoulders round a defender and carving out house the place he desires to go. His much-maligned deal with seems elite. His ending has been pin-point exact. He’s barely hitting the rim when he shoots from mid-range. His third-quarter run on Friday was some true All-NBA-quality basketball – not for the primary time this yr, and never the sort of All-NBA run the place you want a few accidents to make the third crew.

The one drawback for the Celtics: It’s actually arduous to win video games when most of your offense is coming from contained in the arc. Brown was nice – 32 factors on 15-for-28 capturing – however he was 1-for-6 from three. That’s not an issue by itself, however even a participant with Brown’s punishing offseason exercise schedule wears down finally, and when he bought drained or caught on Friday, his 3-point capturing couldn’t bail the Celtics out. Neither may Sam Hauser (1-for-5) or Derrick White (1-for-6), and whereas Anfernee Simons completed 3-for-6, he couldn’t discover the vary till the fourth quarter.

In the meantime, the Magic regarded slightly like final yr’s Celtics – they made 17 3-pointers, ending 17-for-36 (47.2 %) from deep. Whereas Brown tried to guide a comeback contained in the arc, the Magic staved them off from exterior it. That, sadly for the Celtics, is a profitable method that Joe Mazzulla has employed typically, however which bought reversed on Friday.

The Celtics’ facilities and protection weren’t ok.

Neemias Queta has been actually good this yr, and whereas he wasn’t excellent on Friday, he was as soon as once more the plus/minus champion among the many starters – +7 in a recreation the Celtics misplaced by 13.

As soon as Queta went to the bench, nevertheless, the Celtics bought nothing. Luka Garza struggled enormously on each ends – he was -16 in 13 minutes, and for no matter little it’s price, the -16 matched the attention check – and even on an evening when the Celtics’ facilities had been missing in high quality, each Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman remained on the bench.

In the meantime, the Celtics’ protection merely wasn’t as much as the duty. Whereas they gave up 21 factors within the second quarter and 25 within the third to trim down what was as soon as a 16-point benefit within the first quarter, they gave up 38 and 39 within the first and fourth quarters, respectively. Paolo Banchero was comparatively quiet, however Franz Wagner scored 27, and Desmond Bane had certainly one of his first actually good video games in a Magic uniform with 22 factors, six rebounds and 7 assists. The Celtics received the offensive rebound battle 12-11, however they allowed the Magic to generate a ton of fine seems.

The Celtics may in all probability enhance themselves fairly a bit by buying a greater backup huge man (or, after all, a greater huge man who relegates Queta to an everyday second-unit position). To what extent they need to enhance this season stays to be seen.

The margins are minuscule this yr.

Within the NBA’s field rating, at 5:49, the league’s scorekeepers checklist a “Dangerous Move TURNOVER” by J. Minott, which actually neatly describes one of many worst turnovers you’ll ever see.

The Celtics had been main by a degree at that stage and had simply put collectively a extremely necessary defensive cease. Jaylen Brown had a rebound poked away, however Josh Minott hustled after it and tracked it down within the nook.

Minott then made the inexplicable determination to cross the ball again to Brown with Anthony Black visibly lurking simply behind him. The cross was doomed as quickly because it left Minott’s palms – a surprisingly poor determination from a participant who has been overwhelmingly constructive to start out the season.

Did Brown name for the ball? Did Minott freeze up? Did he miss Black by some means? Regardless of the case, it was the start of the top for the Celtics – the Magic doubled them up the remainder of the best way, out-scoring them 28-14 after Black’s steal.

The margins are all the time small in a league as proficient as stuffed with expertise because the NBA, however the Celtics had been hardly ever outclassed when it comes to expertise during the last two years. This yr, one Dangerous Move TURNOVER can begin an avalanche.

Payton Pritchard’s shot got here again.

Payton Pritchard bumped up his 3-point capturing share ever-so-slightly towards the Wizards by going 2-for-6, however he entered Friday’s recreation a queasy 22.4 % from behind the arc.

The unhealthy factor about Pritchard capturing 22.4 % from behind the arc is self-evident. The nice factor, nevertheless, is that he’s due for a large rise to the imply. On Friday, Pritchard – who is solely far too good a shooter to have a complete down yr – appeared to begin to get his 3-point shot on observe. He completed 5-for-8 from deep, scoring 27 factors on 8-for-16 capturing.

Pritchard has made up for his 3-point struggles to date by changing into among the finest drivers within the league – the NBC Sports activities Boston broadcast famous that Pritchard was capturing a better share on drives than Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic this season whereas nonetheless performing them at quantity with 11.2 per recreation.

Nonetheless, as we famous with Brown, the Celtics actually do want him to make 3-pointers, too. Buying and selling twos for threes is a foul method in 2025.

Anfernee Simons is so predictably good at getting scorching.

Simons struggled to seek out the vary for a lot of the sport, however as quickly as he hit a 3-pointer, he grew to become computerized – burying two extra and a troublesome mid-range jumper to salvage his stat line within the fourth quarter.

Brian Scalabrine is fond of claiming “it solely takes one” for an NBA participant to get scorching, however maybe no person embodies that higher than Simons.

Simons, we should always be aware, struggled with Orlando’s dimension and physicality defensively. He might have to get scorching sooner on Sunday to be a web constructive.

Jordan Walsh performed his second good recreation in a row.

The Celtics have gotten a rotating streak of first rate performances from fringe rotation gamers, which is a pleasant drawback to have however nonetheless slightly confounding as Joe Mazzulla tries to nail down his rotation.

On Friday, Jordan Walsh put collectively his second straight stable efficiency after he was a +27 in 24 minutes towards the Wizards on Wednesday. Walsh performed most of his minutes within the first half, however his defensive vitality made him troublesome to take away from the sport within the second quarter. A few of his higher moments had been a reminder as to why scouts in contrast him to Marcus Sensible – he makes performs instinctively that different gamers simply can’t make. He has a Sensible-like slither to his display navigation on and off the ball, and his harassing protection appeared to make Wagner uncomfortable at instances.

Walsh’s field rating doesn’t pop (two factors, 1-for-3 capturing), however he was extra disruptive than his lone steal and block will point out; his six rebounds had been necessary, and he scored a troublesome swooping end within the third quarter.

The NBA Cup created some weirdness on the finish.

The NBA Cup kills NBA decorum on the finish of video games, since level differential issues within the standings.

With seven seconds left and the Magic up by 11, Jalen Suggs missed a deep 3-pointer, however he bought the rebound and drove to the rim, scoring a layup that was inconsequential to the outcomes of the sport. The Celtics tried to reply, however Franz Wagner swatted Payton Pritchard on the rim and screamed on the Magic bench. Joe Mazzulla then inserted Queta again into the sport for the ultimate second in an try to get a lob on the rim, which didn’t work however confirmed how far groups are prepared to go on the off likelihood that an additional bucket or two will matter in an effort to get out of group play.

It would!

What’s subsequent

The Celtics get one other crack on the Magic on Sunday at 6 p.m. That’s the primary of a three-games-in-four-nights stretch that options the 76ers on Tuesday and the Grizzlies on Wednesday earlier than the schedule lastly lightens up briefly – the Celtics get three days off earlier than they tackle the Clippers subsequent Sunday.