POST GAME ORLANDO - AWAY - HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Celtics Wrap: Boston Cruises Past Magic With 92-83 Road Victory

NESN by Logan Mullen on Fri, Mar 16, 2018 at 9:21PM

Two nights after a hectic double-overtime loss, the injury-riddled Boston Celtics certainly were in need of a much more mellow contest. They got just that, soundly defeating the Orlando Magic 92-83 Friday night at Amway Center. Boston trailed just once in the victory, making pretty easy work of the Magic for the majority of the game. The C’s had five scorers in double figures, with Terry Rozier and Greg Monroe leading the way with 17 points apiece. Shelvin Mack led the Magic with 16 points. The Celtics climb to 47-22 with the win, while the Magic fall to 21-49. Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE PG: Terry Rozier SG: Jayson Tatum SF: Marcus Morris PF: Al Horford C: Aron Baynes

HORFORD RETURNS Horford made his return to the floor after missing the previous two games with an illness. The big man dropped 15 points on 6-for-18 shooting, also grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out three assists in his 31 minutes of work.

SLOW START Both teams were pretty stagnant on offense to begin the game, combining to shoot 16-for-47 from the field as the Celtics led 25-16 after one. Since neither team could build much momentum on offense, the biggest run of the game was the C’s early 6-0 run. Morris led all scorers with seven points in the frame.

C’S HEAT UP After a quiet first quarter, the C’s came out firing in the second, going on a quick 6-0 run over the first 1:58 to build their advantage to 15 points, forcing Orlando into a timeout. On the other side of the stoppage, the Magic answered with a 9-0 run over 2:30 to cut the lead to six with 6:26 to play. From there, both teams proceeded to each put together small runs, with the Celtics ultimately entering the break ahead 48-31. Shane Larkin led all scorers with 10 points in the first half.

CREATING SEPARATION The third quarter started off quiet but heated up quickly for the Celtics, who outscored the Magic 27-21 in the frame, taking a 75-52 lead into the final 12 minutes. After a back-and-forth first few minutes, the Celtics went on an 8-0 run, putting them up 60-36 with 6:29 remaining. The Magic pulled back within 14, but Boston finished the final two minutes of the stanza on a 7-0 run. Monroe was a horse in the paint, dropping 10 points in the third.

SEALING THE DEAL While it was very clear the Celtics were in control, the Magic never really went away in the fourth quarter, actually outscoring Boston 31-17. Orlando opened the first 3:50 of the frame on an 11-2 run, chipping away at Boston’s lead. They proceeded to continue cutting into the advantage, actually making it a bit of a game toward the end. The Magic trimmed the Celtics’ edge to just nine points, despite entering the quarter down by 23.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT Somebody had their “Naderade” this evening.


UP NEXT The Celtics will fly to the Big Easy for a Sunday evening game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Tip from Smoothie King Center is set for 6 p.m. ET.

We are in a good/bad position now where our position for the playoffs is pretty much a lock. Wont catch Toronto or rather its not worth to put huge efforts into trying, Cavs are too far behind to catch up (and are playing pretty poorly) and wont be able to have a better record than whoever is coming out of the west. So for now just get healthy and stay fresh and keep on finding out who of the "other guys" if any might be potential playoff contributors/x-factors because we will need it.

Really makes you aware of the ocean-wide gap between a good team and a poor one, doesn't it?  We won this game, and it wasn't as close as the 9 point final score would indicate, on the road and missing 3 of our top 6 players.  38% shooting, only 82 fgas, only 35% 3pt fg shooting and we stomped'em.  This game was won at the line (21-28 vs 10-11) and inside.

Half of our 28 ftas were by Monroe (5-eight) and Nader (6-6).  Monroe's came from pounding defensively-challenged Nikola Vucevic and offensively-challenged, but not name-challenged BisMACK BiyoMMMMMMBOOOOO!!! inside.  Stand back and let the big dog eat!!  Cowens should be in 7th heaven.  We haven't had an inside presence like Monroe, on the offensive end, since...I don't know.  Perk was a brute but he had limited skills, virtually none on offense and had hands of stone (and not in a good Roberto Duran type of way).  Monroe has very soft hands for a big (of all our bigs do, only Baynes' hands are suspect.  The rest all have nice soft hands).  He also has very good court vision, which Perk didn't have.  Baynes is more like Perk than Monroe.  When have we had a player like Monroe?  Cowens?  Yeah, that's how long ago since we had an offensively proficient center inside and out who was also a banger.  Monroe isn't Cowens on defense, Dave Cowens was elite defensively and Monroe is middle-of-the-road, but that's as close as we can get in my memory.  Maybe you disagree?

Rozier with a solid game.  Tied with Monroe for high points with 17, 7 rebounds, 5 assists.  4 offensive rebounds and one of them was a monster traffic rebound that got us a much needed score as Orlando cut the lead down to 5 at one point.

Baynes didn't do much besides rebound (7 in 23 minutes) and help Horford make life hard for Vucevic, but Vucevic is their only interior threat.  Take him away and it's Jonathon Simmons and that's about it.  DJ Augustin?  It will take more than Augustin to put the fear of Magic in me.

Nader was 2-6 but his 6-6 frito shooting was icy coooool and collected.  They were fouling us towards the end and Nader got probably his last 4 points at the line during that time and he canned them all.  I like this kid.  He's a rook, looks a little timid out there at times, but he works hard and has offensive skills.  Last night, against an admittedly poor team, he did really well on defense.  He had a great chase down block on a breakaway by Augustin and he caused a turnover by the Magic with quick hands.  This year he's our 14th man (I still put Yabby below him) but next year (assuming they pick up his option and Danny doesn't package him) he should move up some.  He'll be behind Hayward and Tatum, but that's pretty good for a #58 pick.

Marc D'Amico @celtics
yesterday
Brad Stevens: “We didn’t make a ton of shots, but our first-half and third-quarter defense was pretty darn good.”

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Our 2nd quarter defense wasn't too shabby neither.  We gave up 16 points in the 1st (they shot 7-22, 28.6%), 15 points in the 2nd (they shot 6-18, 33.3%) and 21 points in the 3rd (they shot 9-22, 40.9%).

Magic are trying to project Jonathon Isaac as a Draymond Green SF/Jack of all Trades type of player.  Defensively he is tall and long.  Offensively he is quite raw.  No touch from outside and not much of one from inside neither.  

Our magic number to secure the #2 seed in the playoffs is 8.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975775












Nader gets his own highlight film!!!





bob



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Love seeing Greg Monroe’s post game, he’s very crafty and has great hands, whenever we get as healthy as we can, he’s gonna be a great option, will take so much pressure off of Al and his defense isn’t as bad as advertised. One on one he’s a really lethal post scorer, with our other parts, our shooters and Brad, he can really go off and add to our offense.

Bob just saw your post, since you brought up some past centers, Robert Parish was a legit 2 way player/all star who could post and match up defensively with any great centers of that era, better defender than Moses and better defender and rebounder than Kareem. The team defense has to cover and be able to pressure on the perimeter today, we obviously do that, and I’ve noticed Monroe’s defense getting better and better with us, he’s able to help out as a big should and his post defense is adequate.

Two big takeaways from the game, Monroe and Rozier.  Wow, the Celtics have a post offense with Monroe.  Is he a keeper beyond this season?

And as has become commonplace, Terry Rozier is still ballin.

Monroe has got to be a keeper, a much better post player that Al and a better rebounder, he and Al playing together can be a lethal 4-5 combo together....we’ve got to keep him beyond this season IMHO. The big man has gotten a bad rap recently, but none of the talented bigs has enough around him, with Al, GM, Baynes and Theis as more of a 4 we will be set with bigs for a great few years run.

Cow I agree that they should keep Monroe.  He'll be 28 in June.  Work out a two year deal.  Problem how do they pay Him?

They do not have matching rights so the most they could offer is the MLE $8.8 million.  They can match any Smart offer.  Then you got Baynes and Theis.  Theis will be cheap but Baynes won't.

Decisions, decisions.