BOSTON — If the Magic want to stun the Celtics and advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs, they’ll have to do something they couldn’t against Cleveland in last year’s first-round matchup.
Win on the road.
Although Orlando lost Game 1 by 17 points, the team believes it has a formula to accomplish such a feat in Wednesday’s Game 2 at TD Garden.
“We did a lot of good things in that first half and [we’re] just trying to recreate some of those things looking at ways we can attack their switching,” veteran guard Gary Harris told the Sentinel after practice Tuesday. “Understanding [we need to] take out some of those 3s from Derrick White and [Payton] Pritchard. They hit some bigs 3s.
“I know we did a good job on [Jayson] Tatum, [Jaylen] Brown and [Kristaps] Porzingis for the most part but [we need to] continue to just fly around, scramble and take away those 3s because those 3s were hurting us, especially after the turnovers in transition.”
Magic forward Jonathan Isaac blocks a jumper by Jayson Tatum, who shot 8-for-22 Sunday. (Michael Dwyer/AP)
Harris isn’t wrong.
Orlando limited Tatum, Brown and Porzingis to a combined 38 points on 15 of 44 shooting from the field (34%).
The problem?
White, Pritchard and Jrue Holiday totaled 58 points on 19 of 32 shooting (59.3%), including 14 made 3-pointers.
“That’s just part of the game plan and we’ve just got to continue to stick with the game plan, clean up a few mistakes [and] take care of the ball,” Harris said about forcing the supporting cast to take more shots.
Where Boston had the most success finding open shots came on the fast break.
The Celtics outscored Orlando there 26-4 with White (8), Pritchard (6) and Holiday (6) accounting for all but 6 of those points.
In addition, Boston scored 24 points off Orlando’s 15 turnovers.
“We talked a lot about the turnovers, especially in the third quarter, and how we can get some more ball movement,” Franz Wagner said after practice. “That’s what got them the lead in the third.”
Gary Harris attempts to contain the dribble by Boston’s Payton Pritchard, who came off the bench to score 19 points on 6-for-8 shooting Sunday. (Maddie Meyer/Getty)
Added Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: “That’s most important. If we can limit our turnovers, get more possession on the offensive end, we’ll be great and get more shots up.”
The veteran guard, who had 6 points on just five shots in Game 1, believes he can do more on offense. Caldwell-Pope pointed to Boston’s switching defense clogging up passing lanes as one reason why his offensive impact was limited.
“Boston did a great job denying me most of time,” he said. “I feel like I could be more aggressive, try to get myself open to get looks.”
To counteract Boston’s defense, the Magic need to make sure they’re spacing the floor, cutting when the ball becomes stagnant and setting more physical screens, according to Caldwell-Pope.
Although the Magic shot 37% from 3-point range — a mark in the regular season that led to an 18-5 record — most of those long-range makes came in the first half. They shot 38.9% (7 of 18) before the break and 33.3% (3 of 9) after it.
Boston’s 3-point accuracy (43.2%) barely dropped over the course of the game. The Celtics shot 43.8% (7 of 16) in the first half and 42.9% (9 of 21) after intermission.
Wagner didn’t take a 3 in the second half after shooting 1 of 6 to start.
“I just didn’t think I had a great look from 3 in the second half and that’s why I didn’t shoot another one,” he said.
To his credit, however, Wagner was a big reason why Boston’s two All-NBA forwards struggled in Game 1.
When defended by Wagner, Tatum and Brown shot a combined 2 of 6 from the floor and 0 of 3 from 3 for just 4 points.
Repeating that success is impervative, but the Magic are aware the Celtics are going to make their own adjustments and play just as crisp as they did last year when they captured the franchise’s 18th NBA championship.
“This team’s not going to make too many mistakes, especially in here,” Harris said. “Those turnovers to 3s, those are huge momentum swings, especially in a hostile environment like this.”
Tatum (right wrist) was listed as doubtful Tuesday because of a bone bruise on his shooting hand. It came from a bad fall in the fourth quarter on a Flagrant 1 foul by Caldwell-Pope. Coach Joe Mazzulla said Tatum’s status is day-to-day.
Although many outside the Magic still have no hope for them, they don’t care.
“Everybody’s laughing, having fun,” Caldwell-Pope said. “We’re focused when it’s time to focus, but our confidence is at an all-time high right now.”
Jason Beede can be reached at [email protected]
Up next …
Magic at Celtics, Game 2
When: 7, Wednesday, TD Garden
TV: TNT
