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It’s a busy slate in the association on Friday night, as 9 games are happening. With that said, one Eastern Conference matchup has gathered plenty of attention. The Orlando Magic (23-19) travel to Massachusetts to take on the reigning champions, the Boston Celtics (28-12).
Let’s look at how each team has performed lately and our prediction for this exciting matchup.
The Magic have a lot of young talent, so they have a lot of potential. We’ve seen glimpses of that potential in wins over the Knicks, Suns, Lakers, and even the Celtics. However, Orlando hasn’t been too consistent lately. They’ve lost 6 of their last 10 games. Some losses were to the Jazz and Pistons, while their most recent 2 losses were both to the Bucks, as the Magic couldn’t stop the duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
To circle back to what I mentioned earlier, the Magic already defeated the Celtics this season. Orlando won 108-104 at home as Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 35 points. Friday night’s game will look very different than that one for two reasons: Jayson Tatum and Paolo Banchero. Neither star played in the previous game, and considering both lead their respective team in scoring, that should make Friday’s game look a lot different on offense.
The one aspect that the Magic desperately need to improve on is their offense. In the last 10 games, the Magic rank dead last in offensive rating (yes, that means behind the Hornets, Nets, and Wizards). The reason they’ve been able to win 4 of their last 10 games is because they rank 6th in defensive rating in that span. But if they want to beat the Celtics again, it’s going to take a balance between a strong offense and a suffocating defense.
It feels odd to say a team is struggling with a 28-12 record and the 3rd best win percentage in the league, but that’s the standard the Celtics have set for themselves. Simply put, the Celtics are in a mild slump right now. They returned home from a 4-game road trip against the Timberwolves, Rockets, Thunder, and Nuggets with 3 wins before things went south. They got blown out at home against the Kings, beat the abysmal Pelicans by 1 point, and lost by 13 to the Raptors Wednesday night.
The Celtics have arguably the best starting five in basketball, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s causing this trouble. They still rank 4th in offensive rating, 7th in defensive rating, and 1st in turnover percentage in their last 10 games, but the star-powered offense has barely been getting by. Even with a fully healthy team, the Celtics have looked vulnerable – something we never saw last season.
Fortunately for Boston, Friday night’s game is back at home. While they may not have the same dominance at home as last year, they still see a bump in their scoring on their home floor. And one guy that should be a problem for the Magic defense is Tatum.
Tatum didn’t face the Magic earlier this season because of an illness. That allowed Brown to have a monster game with 35 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. That performance continued a disturbing trend for the Magic: they have a difficult time stopping elite wings.
In their last few games, they’ve allowed Damian Lillard, Tyrese Maxey, Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson to score at least 22 points. Expect Tatum to bounce back after a terrible game against the Raptors with at least 25 points on Friday.
Keith is a sports writer who has evolved into a sports betting personality across social media in the past several years. He specializes in MLB but also writes about the NFL and NBA.