The Orlando Magic are a great defensive team. They finished the NBA regular season ranked No. 2 in defensive rating. This team has size, length and athleticism all over the floor.
The real question entering the Magic’s first-round playoff series against the Celtics is whether they can score enough points to keep up with Boston’s potent attack. The C’s set league records for the most 3-point shots made and attempted in a single season, and they had the No. 2 offensive rating in the regular season.
The Magic have a couple good offensive players, most notably Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. But other guys have to step up. The good news for the Magic is they actually showed improvement offensively after the all-star break.
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“They’ve struggled to shoot the ball,” Magic broadcaster Dante Marchitelli told Chris Forsberg on NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics Talk Podcast. “They had an almost historically poor 3-point percentage this year, and that’s a problem in today’s NBA, and especially against the Celtics, which is what they do at 17.8 makes per game. You’re not going to have a chance to stay in this game if you’re making five to eight 3-pointers, right? They’ve got to knock down shots. So that’s been a big thing. But they’ve moved from 30th in offensive rating to 20th since the All-Star break. It doesn’t seem like much, but that was a big jump where they have started to make shots.
“I think they’ve kind of got their rotation going down. Cory Joseph might be a household name for real avid basketball fans, but not casual fans. He has steadied the ship. He kind of gets the ball to Paolo and Franz and lets them do their things. They’re 11-5 with Joseph as a starter. So that’s kind of been steadying the ship for them.
“Cole Anthony is a wild card. If he’s got it going, you just stay out of the way. You get him the basketball. The Celtics have several guys like that. Cole Anthony is one of those guys that if he’s got it going, you just continue to ride him. And then maybe Kentavious Caldwell-Pope can get hot. He’s won two championships.
“And then Paolo and Franz. They’re built for this. They love this moment and the spotlight. … This series will do one of two things. It’ll either wake up Boston real early in the first round because Orlando’s defense will be so tough or it could surprise them. I think it’s going to be a much more competitive series than people think.”
The Magic beat the Celtics in two of their three matchups during the regular season, although Jayson Tatum didn’t play in both of those Boston losses.
In the one game that both Tatum and Jaylen Brown did play versus the Magic, the Celtics won by 27 points on Jan. 17. at TD Garden.
Nevertheless, the Magic are coming to Boston with plenty of confidence. It’ll be interesting to see just how long it lasts.
“They’re not just happy to be there in Boston,” Marchitelli said. “They’re not along for the ride. They’re going into Boston feeling they can win. If you’re going to go play the games, you might as well win them. They won two out of three (vs. Boston in the regular season). They’ve got one of the best winning percentages against Boston since 2022.
“But they know it’s monumental. They know it’s going to be a monumental task to do it. And literally everything has to break their way to pull off an upset or to stay competitive in this series. But that’s how they view it. They don’t know what they don’t know yet, which I think is huge. They’re going to go in there feeling confident because all the things that are Orlando’s strengths — they kind of were able to utilize that in two victories and limit Boston’s 3-point attempts, field goal attempts per game, slow things down for them.
“It was hard for Boston to score. They averaged right around 100 points per game against Orlando this year, the fewest in the NBA. So Orlando’s strengths will hopefully help them in this series.”
NBC Sports Boston has complete coverage of Game 1 starting at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday with Celtics Pregame Live.
Also in this episode:
- Ian Begley on state of the Knicks and possible matchup with C’s
- Kayla Burton and Chris discuss upcoming postseason scenarios for C’s
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