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NBA: Celtics Dominate vs Magic

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The short-handed Boston Celtics overcame a slow start en route to dominating the visiting Orlando Magic 128-111 on Friday. Jayson Tatum had 30 points, six rebounds and four assists to lead six double-figure scorers for Boston, which has won four straight and is 13-0 at home this season.

Payton Pritchard added 21 on a season-high six 3-pointers, while Derrick White stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, eight assists, four rebounds and four steals.

Jaylen Brown had 18 points, and Oshae Brissett and Sam Hauser 11 each to help the Celtics, who played without centers Kristaps Porzingis (calf), Al Horford (rest) and Luke Kornet (thigh) as well as guard Dalano Banton (non-COVID illness).

Orlando also had six players in double figures, including Jalen Suggs with 19 after suffering a wrist injury in the first half. Cole Anthony and Franz Wagner had 17 apiece.

Goga Bitadze posted a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double. Paolo Banchero added 14 points, and Anthony Black 13.

Orlando posted an opening 7-0 run and led 11-4 after Banchero’s driving finish at the 7:46 mark, but Brown’s 10 first-quarter points helped the hosts take back momentum.

Pritchard hit back-to-back 3-pointers off the bench, bringing Boston back within a basket with 4:32 left. Pritchard drained another after Tatum broke a tie in the final minute for a 30-24 advantage after one period.

After Tatum’s 3-point play got Boston off to a strong second-quarter start, Anthony sank a pair of threes and had eight points as Orlando responded with a 10-2 run.

Brissett had two of the Celtics’ next three baskets to help kick off a 13-3 spurt, extending their lead to double-digits. White fed Tatum for his second of three first-half dunks with 3:30 left before halftime.

The Celtics’ lead grew as high as 21 in the third, thanks to a 7-for-12 3-point shooting effort. Brown opened Boston’s scoring in the quarter with a turnaround shot, about two and a half minutes before White began the barrage from distance.

Pritchard also hit consecutive treys in the quarter, which Tatum finished with a driving 3-point play to get Boston over 100 points.

Moritz Wagner’s layup helped Orlando start the fourth on a 5-0 run, but Tatum and White responded with threes made 23 seconds apart. A Brissett dunk forced a Magic timeout with 7:52 left, matching Boston’s largest lead at 25.

Neemias Queta’s personal 5-0 run helped the Celtics late, responding to five straight Magic points.

–Field Level Media

Home Style: Celtics Defeat Cavs

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Celtics look to beat a second straight opponent that has given them recent trouble as the Orlando Magic come in Friday night for the first of two games in three days between the teams. It may be only mid-December, but the series could have a big impact on the final Eastern Conference playoff picture as first-place Boston’s lead on Orlando — which is tied for third with Philadelphia — is just two games.

The Celtics are coming off sweeping Cleveland in another two-games-in-three-days set, beating the Cavaliers 120-113 on Tuesday and 116-107 on Thursday after Boston went 1-3 against Cleveland last season.

The wins moved Boston to 12-0 at home this season, but coach Joe Mazzulla knows his team’s mindset should not change regardless of where the games are played.

“We have to be able to play, regardless of circumstances,” he said, “and I think we’re starting to learn and not be defined by that.”

Jayson Tatum had double-doubles in the back-to-back wins against Cleveland, including 27 points and 11 rebounds on Thursday. Jaylen Brown, who was originally questionable due to a left ankle injury, added 18 of his 22 points in a hot first half.

Teammate Derrick White feels it’s about more than just stats for the star duo, who paced Boston’s 50.6 percent shooting.

“They do so much night in and night out that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet,” White said. “We’re thankful to have them.”

Similar to Cleveland, Orlando recently has had the upper hand in its series against Boston, winning four consecutive matchups dating to last December.

“I get it because we’re the Celtics and we’re supposed to win it every single year that there’s expectations of, ‘Yeah, two or three teams will give you (a hard time) but everyone else will be easy,’ and that’s just not the case,” Mazzulla said. “That’s not the NBA.”

Orlando’s streak of head-to-head success against Boston continued into this season with a 113-96 win on Nov. 24.

Moritz Wagner had a game-high 27 points while Tatum posted 26 to lead the Celtics, who shot just 40.8 percent.

The Magic have not allowed 100 points to Boston in three straight meetings, while their two most recent opponents — Detroit last Friday and Cleveland on Monday — were each held under 95.

“I think you continue to preach exactly what you know travels, which is defense,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. “That’s who we are, and that’s what we’ll continue to be about.”

Orlando, which has not made the playoffs since 2020, is 11-2 since Nov. 15. A 104-94 win Monday at home against Cleveland was its second straight after back-to-back losses that ended a nine-game winning streak, the longest in the NBA this season.

Paolo Banchero, who has been Orlando’s leading scorer in two of the past three games, had 20 points and 10 rebounds Monday. He netted 11 as Orlando turned around a halftime deficit in a 30-15 third quarter.

“We don’t want to be the doormat anymore and a team that people talk about as, ‘It’s just the Orlando Magic,'” guard Jalen Suggs said. “We want to be that tough team, and you’ve got to scout and bring full mental energy and physicality when you come play us.”

The Celtics played Thursday without center Luke Kornet, who was a late scratch due to an adductor injury. As a result, Lamar Stevens contributed four points in nine minutes in his first action since Nov. 28.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Remain Unbeaten at Home

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Celtics went 26-for-26 from the free-throw line and improved their home record to 11-0 this season by beating the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 120-113 on Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each scored a team-high 25 points for the Celtics, and Kristaps Porzingis finished with 21. Tatum and Porzingis each had a game-high 10 rebounds. Celtics guard Derrick White made 5 of 8 3-point attempts and added 17 points.

The game was tied 106-106 with 6:05 to play, but Boston scored the next nine points, and the Cavaliers were never closer than seven the rest of the way. The Celtics have won 18 consecutive regular-season home games dating back to March.

Cleveland received a game-high 29 points from Donovan Mitchell, and 26 from Darius Garland.

Caris LeVert returned to Cleveland’s lineup after missing the past four games with a knee injury and tossed in 11 points in 23 minutes, but the Cavaliers were without forward Evan Mobley (knee) for the third straight game. Mobley is averaging 16.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game this season. He is shooting 57.3 percent from the field.

An 11-0 run gave Cleveland an 18-4 advantage with 7:34 remaining in the first quarter. A Mitchell 3-pointer extended the lead to 25-10 with 5:15 left in the first, and the Cavaliers led 31-21 after 12 minutes.

The Celtics tied the game at 52-52 on two Brown free throws with 3:52 left in the first half before taking their first lead on a Brown layup with 1:39 remaining. A Garland 3-pointer capped the first-half scoring and handed the Cavaliers a 60-59 halftime lead.

The Celtics had a 17-2 advantage in makes at the free-throw line in the first half.

A 13-2 run gave Cleveland a 74-68 edge with 7:30 left in the third quarter, but Boston regained the lead when a Jrue Holiday trey capped a 9-0 spurt that put the Celtics in front 83-82 with 3:53 left in the quarter. Boston had a 94-92 lead entering the fourth.

The Cavaliers lost despite making 19 of their 45 3-point attempts (42.2 percent).

The teams will meet again on Thursday in Boston.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Back at Home for Knicks

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Celtics will try to remain unbeaten at home this season and defeat the New York Knicks for the third time in as many meetings when the teams tip-off tonight.

Jayson Tatum scored 34 points in Boston’s 108-104 season-opening win in New York on Oct. 25. He added 35 in the Celtics’ 114-98 victory over the visiting Knicks on Nov. 13.

Tatum contributed 32 points and 12 rebounds on Monday as Boston dropped a 122-112 decision to the Indiana Pacers in an NBA in-season tournament quarterfinal clash. The setback meant that the Celtics would be staying home for their next game, as opposed to traveling west to Las Vegas for the semifinals of the tournament.

“I wanted to (expletive) go to Vegas,” Tatum said. “I didn’t want to go home. I wanted to go to Vegas. Next year, I guess.”

Jaylen Brown collected 30 points and nine rebounds for the Celtics, who saw their three-game winning streak come to a halt.

Kristaps Porzingis expects to be in the lineup on Friday after sitting out the past four games due to a low-grade strain in his left calf. The Celtics said he is “available” to play on Friday morning.

“Of course, everybody was a little bit upset and mad at ourselves for not getting it done (against the Pacers),” Porzingis said. “But me especially, not being able to help out there, it hurts, especially knowing the vision that we had. But this is how it goes and that’s it. As I said, we’ll be back.”

Like the Celtics, the Knicks were bounced from the NBA in-season tournament with a 146-122 setback to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.

Eastern Conference Player of the Week Julius Randle erupted for a season-high 41 points for New York, which had won three in a row and 10 of 13 prior to that loss.

Randle made 14 of 19 shots from the floor and 11 of 12 attempts from the free-throw line versus Milwaukee.

“Just getting to my kill zones,” Randle told Newsday of his improved play. “The spots that I’m comfortable getting to on the floor and creating a shot for myself, my teammates.”

New York coach Tom Thibodeau wasn’t interested in handing Randle a verbal bouquet, however. He had bigger fish to fry.

“I’m more concerned with taking a good, hard look at what we have to improve defensively,” Thibodeau said. “Obviously, we fell very short in that area.”

Jalen Brunson agreed after the Knicks allowed the Bucks to shoot a robust 60.4 percent from the floor and 60.5 percent from 3-point range.

“Defensively we didn’t really do anything all game. That’s the story. That’s it,” Brunson said. “I mean, offensively we were playing fine. Defensively, on that side of the ball, we just didn’t do anything. That’s it.”

Brunson, who averages a team-best 24.9 points per game, scored 24 on Tuesday. He had a team-high 26 points in the most recent meeting against Boston.

RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley each had 24 points in the season-opening loss to the Celtics.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Lose; Bow Out of Tourney

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INDIANAPOLIS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Indiana’s multi-talented PG Tyrese Haliburton turned a three-pointer into a tiebreaking, four-point play with 1:33 remaining as part of a triple-double and the Indiana Pacers outfinished the Boston Celtics for a 122-112 victory in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament on Monday in Indianapolis.

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The result vaults Indiana into the Eastern finals of the event, which will be played Thursday night in Las Vegas. The winner of Tuesday’s other Eastern semifinal between the New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks will join the Pacers in Las Vegas.

The Celtics will drop back into NBA regular-season action on Friday.

After a Jayson Tatum jumper produced the sixth and final tie of the fourth period with 1:57 remaining, Haliburton buried his game-changing shot at the shot-clock buzzer as he was being fouled by Jaylen Brown. Haliburton’s subsequent free throw put the Pacers up 109-105.

Indiana then put the game away by scoring the game’s next five points on a Buddy Hield 3-pointer and an Aaron Nesmith dunk, both assisted by Haliburton. Boston, meanwhile, missed three consecutive shots, including 3-point attempts by Tatum and Brown.

The Celtics held the upper hand for much of the first half before the Pacers, the NBA’s highest-scoring team, exploded for 37 points in the third period to go up 85-78. Haliburton had 12 of his team-high 26 points in the quarter, including two of Indiana’s six 3-pointers.

Boston drew even by the 6:07 mark of the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by Brown.

Overall, Haliburton shot 5-for-11 from 3-point range to account for a majority of his scoring for Indiana, which connected on 19 treys and outscored the visitors 57-36 from beyond the arc.

The star guard also found time for a game-high 13 assists and a team-high-tying 10 rebounds.

Myles Turner compiled 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who earned the home court in the Eastern semifinals by virtue of having gone 4-0 in group play. Hield finished with 21 points, while Bennedict Mathurin had 16, Nesmith 14, Bruce Brown 13 and Obi Toppin 12.

The Celtics, who had walloped the Pacers 155-104 at home on Nov. 1 and came into the Monday contest on a three-game winning streak, were led by Tatum with a game-high 32 points and Brown with 30. Tatum completed a double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds.

Derrick White had 18 points and a team-high eight assists for Boston, which was missing injured Kristaps Porzingis (calf). Sam Hauser came off the bench for 15 points.

–Field Level Media

NBA: Celtics Crush Hawks

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Celtics 113, Hawks 103

A 34-point, nine-rebound performance from Jayson Tatum helped Boston improve its home record to 7-0 by beating visiting Atlanta.

Tatum didn’t score in the third quarter before dropping 13 points in the fourth. The Celtics led by at least eight throughout the final 12 minutes. Al Horford had 15 rebounds for Boston, which received 15 points and 11 assists from Derrick White. Jaylen Brown added 21 points, and Neemias Queta grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Celtics had to overcome a 33-point effort from Trae Young, who also had five rebounds and seven assists. Atlanta’s De’Andre Hunter tossed in 24 points, and Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 23. Bogdanovic made 7 of his 10 3-point attempts.

NBA: Friday Round-Up

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ORLANDO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – There was a healthy slate of games – including key In-Season Tounament contests across the landscape of the NBA as team returned from a Thursday, Thanksgiving holiday break.

Magic 113, Celtics 96

Orlando turned in a dominant second half and extended its winning streak to six games by beating visiting Boston in an NBA in-season tournament game.

Orlando outscored Boston 65-40 in the final two quarters and improved its record to 3-1 in East Group C. Boston’s tournament record in the group stage fell to 2-1.

Mo Wagner came off the bench to score a game-high 27 points for the Magic, who have won their past four home games. Paolo Banchero added 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Magic. Jayson Tatum scored 26 points for the Celtics, who shot 24.1 percent from 3-point range (7 of 29).

[Read more…] about NBA: Friday Round-Up

Celtics Face Magic in Friday Matinee

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ORLANDO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said his team is starting to believe it can compete with – and defeat – the best teams in the NBA, and that showed when his squad knocked off the Denver Nuggets 124-119 Wednesday night.

The victory extended the Magic’s winning streak to five games.

Orlando has another big challenge ahead when it meets the visiting Boston Celtics in an NBA in-season tournament game Friday afternoon. Boston improved its record to an NBA-best 12-3 by beating the Milwaukee Bucks 119-116 on Wednesday.

“That’s what the growth of this team is turning into — the belief system of knowing what we’re capable of doing in big games,” Mosley said. “I can’t say enough how proud I am of this group. How hard they worked and how they continue to believe in what they’re capable of doing on a regular basis.

“The trust and belief these guys have in one another. … Our identity is that we’re a defensive team that strives for pushing each other to be better every night.”

Franz Wagner scored 24 of his team-high 27 points in the second half of the victory over the defending champion Nuggets. Paolo Banchero added 23 points in the win.

“I think (Wagner’s) ability to see, and communicate the things that he sees … that’s not easy for a lot of people to do, because he sees the game a little bit differently because of his IQ,” Mosley said. “In the way he’s able to communicate it with his teammates is very special, and then at the end he had 24 points in the second half. They challenged him and he stepped up. He made big play after big play.”

The Magic broke a 115-115 tie on a Banchero 3-pointer with 1:49 to play. Banchero, last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year, shot 4 of 5 from behind the 3-point arc. He’s shooting 45.5 percent on 3-point attempts this season after finishing at 29.8 percent last season.

“A lot of teams try to stop me from getting to the rim so my whole thing is just making ’em pay,” Banchero said. “I’ve always been a good shooter so it’s just believing in it and taking the right ones, the ones that are in rhythm, the ones that feel good. And when I take ‘em, I’m shooting with confidence.”

The Celtics received 26 points and eight assists from Jaylen Brown, and 23 points and 11 rebounds from Jayson Tatum in their triumph over Milwaukee.

Boston led throughout the game, but had to fend off a late run by the Bucks. Kristaps Porzingis added 21 points.

“Obviously, the fans and everyone in the building knew this was No. 1 and No. 2 seed (in the Eastern Conference) playing against each other, and that just adds more fuel to the atmosphere,” Porzingis said. “The energy was there. We played hard and they made a good push at the end and almost made a comeback, but we held strong.”

The Celtics are 2-0 in in-season tournament games, and are the only unbeaten team in the East’s Group C. Boston’s victories came against Brooklyn and Toronto.

Orlando has won two of its three in-season tournament games. The Magic beat Chicago and Toronto after opening with a loss to Brooklyn.

– Field Level Media

Celtics Gift a Game in Charlotte

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CHARLOTTE – Hornets forward Miles Bridges, recently reinstated from an NBA suspension, drilled a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left in overtime as Charlotte pulled off a 121-118 upset victory against the visiting Boston Celtics on Monday.

Charlotte delivered a startling fourth-quarter comeback, scoring the last nine points in regulation over a span of the final two minutes, en route to snapping a four-game losing streak.

LaMelo Ball contributed 36 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Hornets. Ex-Celtic Gordon Hayward had 20 points, Mark Williams posted 18 points and 16 rebounds, Bridges finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds and P.J. Washington had 15 points off the bench.

Jayson Tatum scored 31 of his 45 points in the first half for the Celtics, whose six-game winning streak ended. He also had team-high totals in rebounds (13) and assists (six).

Boston’s Payton Pritchard produced 21 points off the bench, while teammates Kristaps Porzingis (17 points), Jaylen Brown (13) and Jrue Holiday (11) were also in double figures.

After Bridges’ basket, Tatum made two free throws and Hayward matched that to account for the final score.

Until the final minutes Monday, the Celtics had a wildly successful four-game road trip — and they were greeted by many of their adoring fans on this final stop.

Bridges played in his third game since serving a suspension stemming from a domestic violence case, but he was in the starting lineup for the first time. Bridges replaced Washington.

Charlotte, which was down 11 points with six minutes left, trailed 108-99 with two minutes to go before rallying.

Williams’ putback of an offensive rebound made it a two-point game with 33 seconds left.

Holiday missed a pair of free throws with 10.1 seconds to play in regulation, and Ball’s driving, double-clutch layup tied the score with seven seconds left. Boston’s Sam Hauser missed a potential winning shot at the regulation buzzer.

The Celtics led 65-54 at halftime. Charlotte was within 90-87 on Washington’s jumper with about 9 1/2 minutes to play.

Ball had 17 first-half points, but that seemed pedestrian compared to Tatum, who shot 10-for-15 from the floor and sank five 3-pointers in the half.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Skip Past Grizzlies, 102-100; Tonight, It’s On to Charlotte

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CHARLOTTE – The Boston Celtics have been among the best teams in the NBA for the first month of the season.

That’s not the case for the Charlotte Hornets, who need something good to happen.

The teams with opposite types of streaks will meet tonight in North Carolina where the Celtics will conclude a four-game road stretch.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 26 points to lift Boston to its sixth straight victory on Sunday with a 102-100 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Even that wasn’t totally satisfying for the Celtics, however.

“We got lucky enough to win that game,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “You can learn from losses. You can learn from wins. I didn’t think we deserved to win the game because a lot of the stuff that we did.”

With that in mind, Mazzulla will have a motivational angle to use for the game in Charlotte. He said the Grizzlies played harder than the Celtics in Sunday night’s game. It’s all part of the heightened expectations for the Celtics, who are led by Jayson Tatum’s averages of 26.9 points and 8.7 rebounds a game.

“Guys in the locker room set a high standard for themselves,” Mazzulla said.

The Hornets probably are in a totally different state of mind as they try to break a four-game losing streak. In home games, Charlotte has dropped six straight since winning the season opener.

Charlotte’s offense has been regularly sparked by guard LaMelo Ball, who has reached the 30-point mark in five of the last seven games. He’s averaging 24.4 points per game. With 25 or more points in each of those seven games, that’s the second-longest Hornets streak in that category in franchise history.

Rookie Brandon Miller is coming off a career-high 29 points against the New York Knicks on Saturday night. Yet Miller is receiving hard lessons on the pro level about the necessity for focused defensive intensity.

“I think we kind of struggled maintaining our man in transition,” Miller said. “I think that’s just an effort thing with us, something we’ve got to clean up going into the game against Boston. Our focus is just individual defense. I think if we shut down a few players, we will have a great outcome in any game.”

Miller’s offensive skills have translated well in the early part of his NBA career.

“He does it the right way. He works in practice,” Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said.

Clifford said the defense must be addressed across the roster with the team. The Hornets shot 49 percent from the field Saturday night against the Knicks, a rate that should be good enough to at least keep the team in tighter games.

The Hornets have lost by 14 or more points in three of the four games in their skid.

Ex-Celtics forward Gordon Hayward has scored a total of 12 points in 90 minutes across the last three games combined for the Hornets. He has shot 6-for-25 from the field in those games, missing all six of his 3-point attempts.

“That’s something we have to work on,” Clifford said of getting Hayward and P.J. Washington to pick up the pace offensively.

The Hornets were missing backup center Nick Richards, who was in the concussion protocol, on Saturday night.

–Field Level Media