POOF! The Magic are gone.
For nine halves, the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic exchanged blows in what was a physical first-round series. Despite a lack of offensive firepower, the Magic forced their way into close finishes against the Cs by “mucking up the game,” as they say.
Of course, there were less-than-pretty stretches for Boston throughout this series. The first half of Game 5 was a prime example. Orlando did a tremendous job of limiting the Celtics’ three-point attempts and creating extra possessions.
Boston attempted just six triples in the opening 24 minutes and made none of them. Meanwhile, the Magic attempted nine more total shots than the hosts, thanks to 10 offensive rebounds.
The Celtics found themselves down by two at the halftime buzzer.
It was beginning to feel very similar to the Game 3 loss in Orlando.
Until it wasn’t.
“At the end of the day, every game is different,” said head coach Joe Mazzulla. “Every team is different. We have to answer the call and play solution-oriented basketball.”
Mazzulla’s team answered the call after the break, that’s for sure.
They outscored the seventh-seeded Magic 73-40 in the second half and turned a rock fight into a rout. It felt like the basketball equivalent of Forrest Gump’s leg braces breaking off as he sprints, allowing him to run without any limitations.
Did Paolo Banchero’s fifth foul have something to do with it? Sure, but that’s neither here nor there.
All of a sudden, the offense looked like it had for the majority of the season, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were cooking, and Boston was finishing defensive possessions with rebounds.
The Celtic duo combined to score 34 points on a fiery 9-of-15 from the floor and 6-of-9 from deep. They nearly outscored the Magic by themselves.
Their offensive explosion trickled down to the rest of the Celtics, too. Both Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser had great scoring nights off the bench, knocking down a few triples of their own. Luke Kornet also had an impressive showing with nine points and four rebounds.
It may seem pretty minute, but in a series where the bench wasn’t particularly great, it’s encouraging to see them put together a game like this to cap it off.
Is there momentum that can carry between series? I’m not sure, but Boston has given themselves as good of a chance as possible to try and do so in the second round.