Recap: Cs Fall Short of Miracle Comeback, Lose to Magic

In what was certainly one of the strangest games of the year, the Celtics fell to the Magic Tuesday night 100-95. After scoring just 9 first quarter points and 30 total for the first half, the Celtics dropped 65 second half points on Orlando, cutting the Magic’s 25 point lead down to as little as 3 before falling short in the end.

Tyler Zeller registered his second double-double of the season for Boston with 22 points and 10 rebounds while Avery Bradley broke out of his shooting slump by scoring 20 points on 4 of 6 shooting from deep. Orlando’s’s frontcourt was a major problem throughout the night as the Magic went for 50 paint points with Kyle O’Quinn and Nikola Vucevic combining for 36 points and 25 rebounds.

The first half was, without much debate, the Celtics worst half of the season, especially the performance in the 1st quarter. The Celtics 9 first quarter points was their lowest output in a quarter all season. They shot 2/22 (9%) for the quarter, while the Magic shot 56%. The second was an improvement in terms of shooting percentage and scoring output, but the Celtics 6 turnovers led to 8 Magic points.

The second half featured a huge Celtics comeback in the 4^th quarter, cutting the Magic’s 25 point lead down to as little as 3, but they fell short in the end. Jameer Nelson led the comeback with 5 points 5 assists and 3 steals in the period.

The Green:

• 4^th quarter comeback: The Cs outscored the Magic 35-15 in the 4^th, holding the magic to 3 of 15 shooting while going 12 for 24 themselves. There was a clear sense of urgency that had been lacking most of the game and a defensive focus that led to easy baskets on the offensive end. However, it can’t take a team until the 4^th quarter to start playing with pace and defensive focus.
• Avery Bradley: Bradley broke out of his shooting slump, hitting four threes including a perfect 3/3 in the 3^rd Hopefully Avery can carry over tonight’s performance into the Cs next game on the 26^th.
• Tyler Zeller: Zeller just continues to produce. He consistently runs the floor and provides a nice target on the pick and roll because of his superb hands. He’s very good at using his body to draw contact in the paint and got to the free throw line ten times tonight, making all of them. As nice as the Brandan Wright addition is, Zeller is going to command starters minutes at the center spot.

The Gross:

• Jared Sullinger: Sully shot 0 of 5 and lacked energy in his 9 minutes of play in the first half. Brad Stevens responded by benching Sullinger for the entire 2^nd  half. It  will be interesting to see how the big man responds from this, as the Celtics need him to play well now more than ever.
• Jeff Green: Green scored a season-low 4 points on a season-low 6 shot attempts. He did not attempt a free throw. While Cs fans should not panic too much after a couple of sub-par games, Green just hasn’t looked engaged his last couple of times out. That being said, he has not been used in quite the same way, which can be attributed to both the loss of Rajon Rondo and coaching. It will be interesting to see how Green plays moving forward. He was having a breakout season, but now that Rondo is not feeding him the ball, it remains to be seen if he can keep up his consistent scoring numbers
• This pass

The Greenlights:

• Smart with a nice pass to Bass

• Jameer turning back the clock

• Bass Dunk

• Olynyk with the big transition 3

The Grid:

• The Cs had 9 1st half turnovers, 3 in the 2^nd
• Jared Sullinger and Jeff Green played 0 4^th quarter minutes. Green played 8 in the 3^rd, while Sully was benched the entire half

BOX SCORE