The postseason history between the Celtics and Magic

Boston and Orlando meet for the first time in fifteen years.

With the Orlando Magic’s win over the Atlanta Hawks in the Play-In Tournament, the Celtics will be facing off against the Magic in the first round of the playoffs. Let’s take a look back on the matchups Boston has had against Orlando in the regular season and in playoffs past.

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Regular Season Head-to-Head Matchups

The Celtics played the Magic three times this season and finished with a losing record of 1-2. OnDecember 23rd, Jayson Tatum was ruled out right before tipoff with a stomach bug. Even without Tatum, the Magic were missing stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner for this matchup so it looked like an easy win for Boston. That was not the case. Behind rookie Tristian da Silva and a myriad of bench players, Orlando shockingly beat Boston 108-104 even with Jaylen Brown scoring 35 points. The Celtics shot an abysmal 8-33 (24.2%) from three as the Magic’s physical defense gave them trouble.

Game 2 was back in Boston on January 17th and with a healthy Jayson Tatum, the Celtics blew out the Magic 121-94. This was one of the few games where the Celtics had their starting lineup completely healthy and everyone produced. Tatum led the way with 30 points and Kristaps Porzingis was a matchup nightmare with 23 points on 7-10 shooting. Banchero was back for the Magic at this time but struggled with only 21 points on 8-20 shooting.

Game 3 was a throwaway game in a sense because the Celtics had already locked up the second seed in the East by April 9th while the Magic were still fighting. Boston ran out their bench for the entire game and got smoked 96-76 against Orlando’s starters. Franz Wagner played his first game against the Celtics this season and led the Magic with 23 points.

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Playoff History

The Celtics and Magic have faced off in the playoffs three different times in NBA history and it’s Orlando who has the slight upper hand with a record of 8-9 all time. The first time they matched up was in 1995 in the first round of the playoffs where the Magic won the series 3-1. Boston was overmatched in every way in this series as 35-year-old Dominique Wilkins was the Celtics leading scorer for the series at 19 points and 10.8 rebounds. Game 4 of the series was also the final game the Celtics played in the old Boston Garden and it was a 95-92 loss as the Magic won the series. The Magic led by Shaquille O’Neal did end up making the Finals that year, losing to the Houston Rockets.

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The second matchup between these two teams didn’t happen again until 2009 where once again the Magic won the series 4-3, this time in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Boston was trying to repeat after winning the championship in 2008 and a rematch with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers looked to be in the cards.

However, Kevin Garnett was injured for the playoffs and that was a huge blow for Boston as the Magic led by Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis took advantage. The Celtics had some incredible all-time moments in this series including Eddie House scoring 31 points off of the bench in Game 2 and Glen Davis hitting a game winner in Game 4. However, even though Boston took a 3-2 lead in the series after Game 5, the Celtics couldn’t close it out as they lost Game 6 in Orlando and got blown out in Game 7 back in Boston for a crushing way to end the season. Just like in 1995, the Magic would make the Finals again, this time losing to the Lakers.

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These two teams didn’t have to wait long to matchup with each other again as the next year in 2010 was the final matchup and this time it came in the Eastern Conference Finals. This time, the Celtics would finally get their revenge as they took down the Magic 4-2 in the series. Garnett was healthy and playing in this series but it was Paul Pierce that took over, averaging an insane 24.3 points on 51% shooting and scoring 31 points in the deciding Game 6 to finish the series.

This was another hard-fought series with tons of close games and even though the Magic won Games 4 and 5 after the Celtics took a 3-0 series lead, Boston was determined to make it to the Finals and finished the job at home in Game 6. Sadly, just like the Magic the year before, the Celtics would lose the Finals to the Lakers.

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Series Prediction

Although history may not be on the Celtics side, I still think Boston will be able to beat Orlando in five games.

The Magic do have a great defense. However, they also have long lulls in their offense where they can’t score and it can hurt them at times. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner have had inconsistencies in the playoffs in the past and without Jalen Suggs, the Magic will be shorthanded. It also doesn’t help that Magic fans committed the cardinal sin of chanting “We Want Boston” in their win against the Hawks and that didn’t seem to work so well last year for all of the teams that faced the Celtics.

Boston should be able to take care of business in this series, but with all my years of being a Celtics fan, I have learned to never count out an opponent in the playoffs. Jaylen Brown is still dealing with a knee injury and although everyone is saying he’s fine, you never know. I will remain cautiously optimistic and just hope for a great series.