The Orlando Magic’s defense looked strong and held serve to defeat the Boston Celtics and score a strong road victory early in the season.
The Boston Celtics had the Orlando Magic scrambling. Kyrie Irving was driving and trying to get to the basket, Al Horford was popping out to space the floor and they had their bevy of shooters to space the floor. But Orlando was not daunted.
Nikola Vucevic met Kyrie Irving and forced the pass to Al Horford. The next man stepped up to defend him and force the pass out to the perimeter. Orlando flew around to run those players off the 3-point line and force a mid-range jumper with the next man ready to contest.
There were times the Celtics made those shots. There were times the Magic deflected the pass and forced the Celtics to reset or hurry into a bad shot. There were times Orlando got the rebound and broke out.
In the fourth quarter, every stop mattered. And the Magic relied heavily on their defense.
With the Magic leading by three points and seven seconds left, they inbounded the ball to Irving who drifted toward the corner. Jerian Grant was following him every step of the way, crowding his space and contesting the three. Al Horford dug out the rebound and Aaron Gordon peeled out to the 3-point line to contest Gordon Hayward‘s last gasp attempt.
He got there in time and it fell no good. The Magic may have survived or they may have dominated — they never trailed in the game. But ultimately what matters is the Magic won 93-90 at TD Garden on Monday scoring a big road victory.
They won with their defense and they found a way to extend the lead every time the Celtics made their run.
Orlando made the plays and did the little things — and the big things like Jonathan Isaac‘s smart play to pump fake and drive in for a big jumper to put the Magic up five late or Evan Fournier draining two free throws calmly to keep Orlando up three — to win.
If the Magic have a blueprint to win, it will be with efforts like this with strong defense and gritty determination to overcome some of their offensive shortcomings and droughts.
The Orlando Magic head home next to take on the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday.