BOSTON — On a possession two minutes into the first quarter Friday night, the Boston Celtics didn’t even attempt to disguise their intentions against the Orlando Magic. With a small forward guarding Kristaps Porziņģis, Boston went straight into a pick-and-roll with Derrick White and his 7-foot-2 teammate.
Early in their 121-94 win, the Celtics wanted to hurt the Magic for assigning slender rookie Tristan da Silva to Porziņģis.
“They just had a 3-man on me, da Silva, and I wanted to punish that right away,” Porziņģis said. “And just aggressiveness from the beginning. Posting up and trying to take advantage of those mismatches. That’s it.”
Instead of using a stagnant post-up to target the matchup, Boston used the Porziņģis screen to put Orlando into an even worse situation. Once the Magic switched the pick-and-roll, Porziņģis found himself defended by the 6-2 Cole Anthony. Orlando sent plenty of help initially, but the Celtics operated patiently to find an opening for an entry pass. White pumped the ball over to Jrue Holiday, who lobbed a pass into Porziņģis standing just a few feet from the hoop.
Easy bucket.
Two minutes later, Porziņģis used an aggressive duck-in to again set himself up with a great low-post position. He often operates at the free-throw line, where he has plenty of success, but muscled da Silva to inch even closer to the rim. When Jayson Tatum threw the ball into Porziņģis, he was standing at the dotted line inside the paint. He spun into da Silva’s body to get even closer to the hoop before sinking an eight-footer over the top of the defender’s head.
Al Horford said he believed Porziņģis’ interior offense set the tone and also went out of his way to praise the big man’s rim protection.
“I think very early on KP made some tough baskets there in the paint, really getting those deep post-up catches and finishing through contact,” Horford said. “I thought he was getting fouled there initially and he was still finishing and so that was really big for us.”
With a rugged defense and significant length, the Magic often give the Celtics problems. Even when short-handed, as they were Friday, the Magic boast a physical style and any opponent unprepared to match that can meet a long night. The Celtics exceeded it. They played mean. They used their size. They tore apart the Magic with a string of post-ups and strong drives. Porziņģis dominated smaller defenders near the basket early. Tatum had his way down low during the second quarter. Jaylen Brown seemed intent on putting pressure on the rim throughout the game. The Celtics only attempted five 3-pointers during the first quarter, well short of their normal pace, but shot 12-for-18 from the field in the period. It didn’t hurt that they drilled all five of their outside jumpers in the quarter, but they set out first to reach the rim. They targeted size advantages with precision.
Eventually, the Celtics’ success inside opened up their outside game. After an ugly loss in Toronto, which only added to the frustration of an inconsistent month, Porziņģis liked the way Boston attacked. He thought his team played with “no energy” while falling to the Raptors. After that disappointment, Porziņģis wanted the Celtics to find their joy again.
“I think today was actually from a rhythm perspective a good game,” Porziņģis said. “We were not shooting a crazy amount of 3s, but we were shooting the right ones. Immediately our percentages were up and we were (scoring) both in and out. And I think when we play like this, when we get downhill and create for each other and then we get the 3s, we have much more uplifting energy. When we just come down and we shoot it, if we make (it), OK, good. But if we miss, it can drain you a little bit. So tonight I think we had a good balanced basketball. And I think that’s when we’re the best.”
Tatum sank five shots from inside the paint during the second quarter alone.
“It definitely felt good to hit some shots,” Tatum said, “but I just liked how physical we were from the beginning. Starters haven’t necessarily started the game as well as we’d like recently. But I think tonight, we matched their intensity from the beginning, and the guys that came off the bench did an excellent job of pushing it forward.”
Starting five’s best performance yet
The Celtics starting lineup, which rode a deep slump into the game, opened a 19-13 lead over its first stint. Against Orlando’s second-ranked defense, Boston’s first unit brought energy from the start. Holiday fed Porziņģis a beautiful assist to open the scoring. White followed shortly thereafter with a great block of the 6-10 Paolo Banchero at the rim.
Brown’s first shot attempt was nearly swallowed whole, but he continued to look to get downhill. Tatum contested a shot, deflected a pass, grabbed two rebounds, handed out two assists and drilled his first 3-point attempt. And Porziņģis dominated the Magic inside and out while scoring 11 first-quarter points on 4-for-4 shooting. The Celtics set him up to eat in the post.
During the second quarter, Joe Mazzulla gave the starting lineup extra minutes together. He went back to the group with 8:05 left in the first half, earlier than he normally does, and stuck with the same five after the halftime break. The lineup, which had not been better than plus-three in any previous game, outscored the Magic 56-41 over 20 minutes.
“Results can vary with plus/minus and things like that,” Tatum said. “But I think just how connected we were on both ends of the floor, especially on defense. Everybody was on the same page, we were connected, helping each other out. So regardless of the plus/minus, the way we went about it was a lot better today.”
Mazzulla seemed to agree.
“I thought we got off to a good start from a ball-pressure standpoint,” Mazzulla said. “I thought our physicality was good on both ends. I think getting good looks offensively and then having great ball pressure on the defensive end, I thought those things kind of helped us get off to a good start, and we were able to sustain that throughout the game even if it didn’t go well. We missed some offensive rebound opportunities, gave up some fouls, but I just thought the ball pressure and the physicality was high-level today.”
The right response
The Celtics felt urgency to snap back after what Porziņģis called an “unacceptable” performance in Toronto, which dropped Boston to 7-7 over its last 14 games. Porziņģis called the loss to the Raptors a “bit of a wakeup call.” He considered the Celtics’ level of play in that game “uncharacteristic,” but emphasized they needed to play with “more personality.”
“But (against the Magic),” Porziņģis said, “we looked like a completely different animal.”
Horford believes the Celtics can build on their win against Orlando. He feels like all of the recent struggles will make Boston stronger.
Porziņģis has experienced worse spells on other teams but said this stretch hit him differently because of the expectations in Boston. He wants the Celtics to meet the challenge of meeting those expectations head-on.
“This honestly feels maybe much bigger (than previous skids elsewhere),” Porziņģis said, “just because it’s a big stage and we’re not supposed to lose. But I think here the fans and everybody are a little bit spoiled because you don’t know how it is to be on an under-.500 team or really struggling, not being able to get wins. And of course, the expectations are not the same (for the Celtics), but still, as a player, you just bite your teeth and you go to work the next day. But here in a way, it’s an unbelievable privilege that we’re supposed to win every game. We go into every game almost as a favorite, if not every game. So of course it’s a weight that we have to carry or a little bit of pressure that we have to carry, but that’s expected with this.”
(Photo of Jayson Tatum: Eric Canha / Imagn Images)
