All-Star wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 58 points on an efficient 19-of-34 shooting (55.9%) Tuesday, as the Boston Celtics cruised and eliminated the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series, 120-89.
The Celtics await the winner of a first-round series between the New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons. The Pistons, who avoided elimination on Tuesday with a 106-103 victory, host the Knicks in Game 6 on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Celtics, with their championship pedigree needed only a lead, any lead, to break the game open.
The Magic controlled the majority of the first half, taking a 49-47 advantage into the break and extending that lead to five in the early going of the third quarter. And then their momentum stopped in its tracks. Or Tatum halted it.
Tatum sank Boston’s first 3-pointer of the night two minutes into the third quarter, cutting that five-point deficit to 53-51. Brown drove the lane for a conventual three-point play and the lead on the ensuing possession. From there it was over.
The Celtics outscored the Magic in the third quarter, 36-13, to take a 21-point lead into the fourth quarter. They got hot and buried five of their eight 3-point attempts in the third. Tatum made all three of his. He and Brown, Boston’s championship tag team, totaled 22 points on only nine shots, both playing the entire 12 minutes.
Boston’s defense suffocated an already struggling Orlando offense. The Magic shot just 6-of-22 from the field in the third quarter, missing all 11 of their 3-point attempts. They were careless with the ball, committing five costly turnovers, leading to 10 Celtics points. They committed eight fouls and registered a single assist. It was a demonstration and a master class in what not to do in a must win game.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Celtics came into the playoffs attempting a record 48.2 3-pointers per game, the most of any team ever and six more than any other team this season. It is who they are as a team. Except they entered Game 5 attempting just 33 3-pointers a night in this series, ranking 11th among the NBA’s 16-team playoff field.
Limiting perimeter shots is what the Magic defense is built on. The 31.4 3-point attempts per game they allowed during the regular season also led the league.
“It is our identity,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said in the pregame. “We’re going to sit down and guard. We’re going to be physical. We’re going to be handsy. We’re going to do the right thing. We’re going to shrink the floor, get out to shooters, understand who we’re closing out to. That’s just who we’ve been.”
Something had to give, and for the first half of Tuesday’s game it was Orlando that would not allow an inch of separation. Boston went 0-6 from 3-point range in the first half. It was only the second time all season that a team, any team, let alone the Celtics, did not make a 3 in the first quarters of a game.
So, instead, the Celtics put their heads down and attacked the basket. They doubled up the Magic in the paint in the first half, 32-16, shooting 62.5% from inside the 3-point arc. It is what helped Boston enter the break with only a two-point deficit, despite their 3-point woes. That and the fact that the Magic were not exactly setting the world on fire.
Paolo Banchero is the caliber of player you can build a playoff winner around. The Magic may not have won the series, but they gave the defending champions all they could handle over five games, and Banchero was a primary factor. At 22 years old, in his third year out of Duke, he is a full-grown man, 6-foot-10, 250 pounds, though his game has plenty of room for improvement.
“He’s impressed me since the moment he got here,” said Mosley.
Banchero is hard to get off his spot and just as hard to keep from getting to his next one. He plays with the poise of a veteran, surveying the floor, manipulating the defense and either using his brute strength to gain an advantage or using his vision to find a clearer edge. It is the kind of all-around game that translates well to the playoffs, and it sure did against one of the league’s best teams.
Banchero entered Game 5 averaging 32 points (on 44/44/65 shooting splits), 8.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists. He did not have his finest hour on Tuesday and still had a solid performance, collecting 19 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
There was a lot to like from him in this series, with the addition of a couple of capable shooters around him, that there is no reason that he cannot make the Magic a home playoff seed as soon as next season.
