When the Orlando Magic lost Game 7 in Cleveland last May, they looked at their roster and the promise it presented.
Paolo Banchero had just dropped 38 points to push the Magic to an early lead and carry them through most of the game. He looked like a bona fide star and an All-NBA player in the making. They had that foundation in place.
They had enough faith in their other two core players to wave away uncharacteristically poor shooting games in that decisive game. This was their first playoff series after all. There was time for them to grow.
The team's shortcomings were still apparent. But another year of growth and addressing needs in the offseason seemed like they would set things in the right direction.
They added what they thought would be an elite shooter in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but bet on the team's internal improvement to harden their defensive identity and improve their offense.
After an injury-filled season that cost them most of the season for two key offensive players in Jalen Suggs and Moe Wagner, the Magic's offense was still abysmally bad—27th in the league in offensive rating. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner took sizable offensive leaps, but the team still seemed stuck.
Their needs were apparent—more shooting, playmaking and creation. The Orlando Magic's return to the playoffs against the Boston Celtics was not going to change that understanding or realization.
What the series against the Celtics seemed likely to prove is how far the team has to go to reach that championship level. And if Game 1 is any indication, the Magic have a lot of work to do.
The difference between the two teams could not have been clearer in the 103-86 Celtics win. And the Magic's roster construction issues are on full display even early on in this series.
The Magic got star performances from their top two players. Paolo Banchero scored 36 points on 14-for-27 shooting and 4-for-7 shooting from three. Franz Wagner scored 23 points on 10-for-24 shooting.
Orlando has been able to lean on their two star players for everything this season. The pair made Magic history as the second duo in franchise history to average 20 points per game in the same season.
But nobody else on the team took more than six field goal attempts or scored more than seven points. The Magic's offensive balance was all out of whack. The stars got no help from anybody else on the roster—each posting a ridiculous 39.0 (Wagner) and 37.0 (Banchero) percent usage rate.
A strong Boston defense had a lot to do with that. But it did not take much to see that there is a different way.
A different way
The Orlando Magic held the Boston Celtics' star players to rough games.
Jaylen Brown scored 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting, missing both of his 3-point attempts. Jayson Tatum had 17 points on 8-for-22 shooting, including 1-for-8 shooting from three.
That should be the formula to give the Magic a win.
But Orlando lost because Boston could turn to others to create and score.
Derrick White had 30 points and made seven 3-pointers. Payton Pritchard changed the game in the second and third quarters with 19 points and 4-for-6 shooting from deep. Jrue Holiday hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter to help the Celtics pull away.
Their diversity on offense was clear. Their shooting prowess—16 for 37 from three with White, Holiday and Pritchard accounting for 14-for-22 shooting from deep—was abundantly clear.
The Magic's offensive shortcomings were abundantly clear too. They could not keep up.
"That's something that, as a team, we have harped on coming in is they do have two main guys, but it's really the other guys that kill you," Paolo Banchero said after Game 1. "We just have to do a better job of getting those guys off the line because they really kill you from three. You do a good job on the main guys, but some of the role guys and wings kill you. We have to do a better job taking them away."
The Celtics are an unrelenting offensive force. Even if the Magic were at full force—and, to be sure, Jalen Suggs and Moe Wagner's absence is felt in a series like this—they would struggle to keep up with the Celtics' offense, even with their powerful defense.
The entirety of Game 1 felt like an uphill climb. Boston seemed to punish Orlando for any mistake the team made.
For as good as Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner can be, the team still can fall woefully short. In other words, the Magic have their Tatum and Brown, if this analogy needs to be strained. What Orlando does not know is where the rest of the team’s scoring will come from.
Offensive shortcomings
That has been much of the issue all season. The Orlando Magic cannot count on its offense outside of its top players.
If Orlando is going to compete in this series, the team needs to support its stars. At least in some of the ways, the Celtics can support theirs.
The answer on that front is still harder to find.
Coach Jamahl Mosley pointed to the team's pace and energy on offense as a start.
Orlando was certainly trying to push the pace when it could and get into the offense and downhill quicker. Both teams are trying to take advantage of miscues and get into the offense before they can set up their defense—the Celtics won the fastbreak battle 26-4 in a key difference in Game 1.
"I think it's just the ability to play faster," Mosley said after Game 1. "When we step into the game, just being able to know that when we get the stops, we have to be able to get out and run and put pressure on the rim early. I think it really is just about us pushing the pace, attacking downhill and trusting when our defense does get the stop, we've got to convert on the other end."
Most fans would probably argue this is why the Magic need a point guard and organizer.
The team saw a massive improvement when they put Cory Joseph into the starting lineup—his foul trouble throughout Game 1 may have had a bigger influence on the result than his meager stats would suggest.
Against Boston's switching scheme, Orlando got stagnant. The team had only 17 assists on 34 field goals. The Magic took only 11 free throws after averaging 23.0 per game this season and finishing second in the league in free-throw rate.
This has been a constant problem all season. The Magic get stuck.
"Keep moving the ball. Knowing everyone has to be aggressive on the catch," Franz Wagner diagnosed after Game 1. "We had a couple of possessions where I thought we moved the ball really well. That's when we got good looks. Everybody has to be ready to play on the catch."
For once, shooting was not the problem. Orlando made 10 of 27 (37.0 percent) from three. The team went 18-5 in games this season where it shot 37.0 percent or better.
Orlando did at least a few things in Game 1 that should have led to a win or pointed toward a win. In some repsects, Game 1 was a missed opportunity.
But it was also not surprising. The Magic have two star players in Banchero and Wagner. What they need is more offensive weapons to cover and support them. That was the key difference between the Celtics and Magic in Game 1.
Orlando's offensive issues are being laid bare already.