Magic defeat Celtics for third straight win

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In subsequent seasons, the Magic had crept above. Help from reserves Jason Smith and Aaron Gordon eventually gave the Magic the halftime lead, 53-45. Even when the Celtics got deflections, the ball often redirected to Orlando like it knew which team deserved possession.

The Celtics got within 12 points twice in the last 5 minutes behind seven straight points from Thomas but never got closer.

“I guess, for the night, we let ourselves enjoy the win, but that’s not our ultimate goal”. Elfrid Payton hit 10-of-12 shots, scoring 22 points for the winners, to go with 10 assists. We’ll try to figure it out soon because these games are coming fast, we all know, and we don’t want to get too far behind. Also, the Magic are 9-5 since starting the season 0-3. When Scott Skiles is a coach, he always has tough teams. The guys did what they had to do (against Boston). “They got into us at the defensive end, turned us over and we didn’t respond”.

“If you look at the two teams tonight”, Stevens said, “we’ve got a ways to go to catch them”. But if we’re not playing well it can go the other way for us. We have to somehow learn to play the same way each and every night no matter if shots are falling or not.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens became alarmed when he began dissecting video footage of the Orlando Magic. Orlando smothered the Celtics to the tune of 40.9 shooting and it forced 12 turnovers.

Boston Celtics center Jared Sullinger (7) blocks the shot of… Frye, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, hit two of his four 3-point attempts in the third period. “Every one of us can shoot”. I think we are doing a better job imposing our will on teams.

But a few minutes later, the coach was spinning around, tossing his fist, furious at his team again for letting Tobias Harris stroll toward an uncontested lay-in. Avery Bradley had 17 points, but didn’t score in the fourth quarter.

Out of halftime, the Magic put the peddle to the metal, much like they did Friday night against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Magic treated Sunday’s game with great importance because of what’s dead ahead on the schedule.

“I don’t feel like we came out with a sense of urgency or playing hard at all from the beginning of the game”, Bradley told reporters in an interview aired on CSN New England. Orlando plays Minnesota (Tuesday), Utah (Thursday), the Los Angeles Clippers (Saturday), Denver (Dec. 8) and Phoenix (Dec. 9).

The Magic are playing as confidently and fluidly as they have in several years. We are on a nice uptick right now, we’d like to keep it going. “We’re focusing on a lot of the little details, especially defensively”. “It’s about consistency and being a consistent team night in and night out”. The Celtics showed some signs of life in the final period, as they whittled a 21-point deficit to 13, but it never became a serious threat. With the victory, the Magic moved to within two games of the Southeast Division-leading Miami Heat. The power forward got into the game early because of foul trouble to Frye and he came through with 10 first-half points.

Orlando led by at least 6 points from the middle of the second quarter to the end of the game.

The Magic were on their way to a winning record.