The Boston Celtics lost 113-98 to Palolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic on Monday Night at the Amway Center. The Celtics loss snaps a 9-game winning streak dating back to January 5th against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Celtics came into the game with a few players out with injuries on the roster. Marcus Smart was out with an ankle sprain after twisting it in the 106-104 win against the Raptors on Saturday.
Robert Williams III was out with a left knee hyperextension after he injured his knee in the first half of Saturday’s win. Point guard Malcolm Brogdon was also out for personal reasons.
The dynamic duo of Tatum and Brown scored 26 points each, and Derrick White who started for Brogdon scored 11 points. Small forward Sam Hauser scored 13 points off the bench for the green, but that was not enough for them to win against the Magic and here’s three reasons why.
Celtics let the game slip away in the 4th quarter
With 6:20 left in the 4th quarter, Jayson Tatum hit a three-pointer which brought their deficit to 2 points to bring it to 95-97.
The Celtics would then allow the Magic to close out the game with a 16-3 scoring run where the C’s had some missed shots, and a couple crucial turnovers.
One was when Payton Prichard stepped out of bounds while in the process of shooting a three-pointer following a bad pass by Tatum. The turnover that sealed the loss for the Celtics was with under two minutes left, White was pick pocketed by Franz Wagner.
What also led to the Celtics losing was Tatum went out in the 3rd quarter with an apparent rib injury, but he was able to come back into the game in the fourth.
Boston Celtics defense allowed the Magic to score on them
The Celtics defense allowed five Magic players to reach 10+ points in the game. Leading the charge for the Magic was rookie No. 1 overall pick Paolo Banchero scoring 23 points, center Wendell Carter Jr. scoring 21 points, small forward Franz Wagner scored 15 points.
On the bench for the Magic, Cole Anthony scored 18 points and center Johnathan Issac, who played in his first game since the 2020 Bubble where he tore his ACL, scoring 10 points.
The C’s defense only stole the ball five times during the entire game, which all the Celtics starters had 1 steal including Horford and Griffin.
The defense also allowed the Magic to make 51.4 percent of their shots during the game, and only blocked four of those shots.
Celtics too sloppy with the ball
The Celtics offense had sloppy play when it came to protecting the ball when they had a total of 18 turnovers in the loss while the Magic only turned the ball over 11 times.
There were turnovers which could’ve been preventable for the Celtics. Like, the 1st quarter traveling violation by center Luke Kornet and the two moving pick fouls by Grant Williams.
The Boston Celtics let Magic defense get 10 steals on the night including allowing shooting guard Gary Harris, Issac, and Anthony having 2 steals each.
The 18 turnovers the Boston Celtics allowed, turned into 19 points off turnovers for the Magic, which helped them win this game.
The Boston Celtics will look to bounce back when they travel to Miami to face Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat Tuesday night at 7:30 pm on TNT.