The Orlando Magic handed the Boston Celtics a 113-98 defeat at Amway Center on Monday night, snapping the Celtics’ nine-game winning streak. Paolo Banchero led the Magic with 23 points, while Wendell Carter Jr. added a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Cole Anthony, who came off the bench, also contributed 18 points for the Magic, and Franz Wagner had 15 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
The short-handed Celtics, who were without injured guard Marcus Smart and center Robert Williams, saw Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown score 26 points each, and Sam Hauser and Derrick White add 13 and 11 points, respectively, in the loss.
The Magic took a 30-23 lead at the end of the first quarter and went into halftime with a narrow 55-54 lead. The Celtics started the third quarter strong, scoring the first six points to jump out to a 60-55 lead, but the Magic rallied to tie the contest twice at 65 and 68.
Orlando then used an 8-0 run to surge ahead 76-68 with 5:11 left in the third quarter and extended that gap to 13 points at 86-73 on a Banchero fast break running dunk.
The Celtics got as close as two points with 6:20 remaining in the game, but the Magic used another run to finish off the visitors. The Magic shot 51.2% as a team on 43-84, while the Celtics went 36-83 for 43.4%. The Magic also outscored the Celtics in points in the paint (54-32) and fast break points (24-6).
This victory for the Magic, saw them winning for the second time three games and rebounding from Saturday’s 138-118 loss to Washington. The defeat snapped the nine-game winning streak of the Celtics.
Jonathan Isaac, playing in an NBA game for the first time in 2 1/2 years, finished 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting with two 3-pointers, while Markelle Fultz finished with eight points and five assists in 32-minutes for Orlando which outrebounded Boston 40-37.
Isaac missed 211 games after tearing his ACL on Aug. 2, 2020.
”Much love to the Magic for sticking with me,” Isaac said. ”And the Magic fans were excited, so I was just trying to bottle all that up in one moment. It was surreal.”
The Magic’s Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr. were key figures in scoring and rebounding, and the home team’s defense was able to contain the Celtics’ dynamic duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
”I know they came out and hit some really tough shots early on, but we stayed he course from there,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said after his team’s win on Monday. ”Then obviously we wanted to make sure it was a defensive effort down the stretch.”
Orlando will look to build on this win as when it the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, while the Celtics will try to regroup and bounce back quickly from this defeat versus the Miami Heat, live on TNT on Tuesday night.
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