Magic Down 3-1

Orlando, FL— With an opportunity to take care of business on their home court and potentially tie the series at 2-2, the Magic fell just short yesterday evening to the Celtics in a pivotal Game 4 loss, 107-98.

Magic Fold Down the Stretch

After Kentavious Caldwell-Pope drilled a three and Wendell Carter Jr got the tip in on the following possession, it was a tie ball game at 91 a piece with 4:18 left in the contest. The Celtics called a timeout and all of the momentum had swung in the direction of the Magic, who looked as if they were poised to close out this game on a monster run. 

Instead, just the opposite happened as the Celtics closed the game out on a 16-7 run. The Magic’s youth and inexperience proved to hinder them in the final minutes of last night’s game, as the Celtic’s championship experience is what propelled them to victory. 

Out of the timeout, Kristaps Porzingis had a big time-and-one slam, followed by Jaylen Brown being aggressive continuing to find ways to get to the free-throw line. On the flip side, Wendell Carter Jr missed a jumper, Franz missed a wide-open three, and then Banchero fouled Tatum on a three-point jumper that extended the Celtics lead to nine points with 2:19 remaining in the game.

Jayson Tatum after the foul was seen chirping back-and-forth with Jamahl Mosley and here was his response in the post-game when he was asked about that altercation.

“Nothing serious. It’s just a bunch of men out there,” Tatum said. “Competitive environment, everybody’s passionate — [I’ve] got a lot of respect for Coach Mosley, what he’s done with their group.”

Orlando’s Inexperience Hurt Them

Down the stretch, Banchero had some untimely and sloppy turnovers, the team was rushing their shots early into the clock, and there were far too many possessions with little to no ball movement. In all fairness, Banchero and Wagner don’t have much help around them offensively and they’re limited in what they can do with the lack of shooting.

“You could just tell their experience showed. They weren’t rattled at all,” Banchero said on the Celtics play down the stretch. “Making big plays on both sides — They were really sharp I’d say in those last few minutes.”

At the end of the day, the Magic had every chance and opportunity down the stretch to win this game, but it’s the small details within the game that matter the most. These are the games that will be another story in their book as this team continues to learn and grow together through this adversity.

Magic coach Jamahl Mosley was asked postgame about the Celtics’ play down the final stretch and what made the difference. 

“I think they came up [with] 50-50 balls. The rebounding margin, we miss one, they get down, get a break,” Mosley said. “I think there’s some communication breakdowns in a couple pieces that allowed them to get out in the open court, and then just our level of communication, that attention to detail in those moments matter.”

Celtics Take Care of Business

Orlando committed 24 fouls to Boston’s 17, and the Celtics had 32 attempts at the free-throw line compared to the Magic’s 20. Safe to say Mosley was not a fan of the discrepancy in fouls and free throw attempts for the Celtics. 

“I always look at our ability to attack the rim…Let’s just say 26 free throws before the backstretch,” Mosley said. “You look at those margins and it’s very similar attacks, but it’s not the same foul count. That’s whether that’s the physicality prior to or not, it’s just something we look at.”

The Celtics were happy to get out of Orlando with a win in a highly competitive game and they will now have a chance to close out the series in front of their fans. 

“I thought we were a lot more physical tonight, with [Paolo] Banchero. Just making it tough for him,” Jaylen Brown said. “But Orlando’s a really good team, they’re coached well, they’re physical — It’s not over we got to close them out.

Brown added: “Yeah, nah, this was a big win. This was a big win on the road in a tough, physical environment with a team that’s been playing well — Rally the troops and get back to it in Boston on our home floor.”

Final Numbers

Jayson Tatum, despite suffering a wrist injury in Game 1, has played phenomenally in back-to-back games in Orlando. Tatum finished last night with 37 points, and 14 rebounds, as he shot 10 of 25 (40.0 percent) from the floor and a perfect 14 of 14 (100.0 percent) from the charity stripe. 

The rest of Boston’s starters all played and scored the ball at a high clip as Jaylen Brown finished with 21 points, Derrick White had 18 points, and Kristaps Prozinings had his first big game of the series with 19 points. 

On Orlando’s side, it was the Banchero and Wagner show, for the most part. Banchero finished with 31 points, and seven rebounds, while shooting 12 of 32 (37.5 percent) from the field, and 2 of 6 (33.3 percent) from distance. Wagner finished with 24 points, six rebounds, and seven assists, and he shot 10 of 22 (45.4 percent) from the floor. 

Orlando’s other rotational players like Wendell Carter Jr, Cory Joseph, and Anthony Black all played well, but not well enough to propel this team to victory. Carter Jr had a near double-double with nine points and 11 boards, Joseph had 12 points while knocking down two triples, and Black came in and scored 10 points off the bench. 

“Understanding that we’ve got a job to do when we go to Boston,” Mosley said in his message to the team. “You’ve got to go take one in Boston, and then bring it back here. That’s the mindset and that’s the approach. This one stings, but that’s our reality down 3-1.”

The Magic will play the Celtics in TD Garden for a Game 5 matchup on Tuesday evening.