Brown, Celtics hold off late push by short-handed Magic in win

Boston Celtics

The Celtics claimed a claiming a 138-129 victory over the Magic in Boston on Sunday.

Jaylen Brown and the Celtics took a huge lead over a tired and short-handed Magic team on Sunday and then held on as an unexpected bench mob made a game of it in the fourth quarter, claiming a 138-129 victory. 

Here are the takeaways.

Jaylen Brown put the game to bed

We’ll get into exactly what happened down the stretch shortly (spoiler: it was weird), but Brown continued his All-NBA-quality season with yet another monstrous performance — 35 points on 14-for-26 shooting including a pair of 3-pointers (both of them important), four rebounds, eight assists and just one turnover. His 3-pointers both came late in the fourth and were the start of a 12-point run by Brown himself that included a winding drive and a layup as well as a big mid-range jumper that staved off the Magic at a crucial time.

Brown called out the Celtics after Friday’s disheartening loss to the Nets, a loss that preceded a stretch during which the Celtics will face nine teams with winning records in their next 10 contests. 

“Come ready to play, or don’t play at all,” Brown said on Friday. “That’s my whole thing.”

At no point this season could it be said of Brown that he didn’t come ready to play. The Celtics are a game above .500 at 9-8. Where they would be without him is anyone’s guess; it’s hard to see how they would be able to pick up wins, well, anywhere if he were absent. 

“When the team needs me, I would like to be there,” Brown said. “It’s a team game. So tonight when I was drawing help, I was trying to find guys in rhythm for some shots when they doubled in the post and things like that. When they brought somebody over, just trying to take my time to make the right read. 

“I’m still growing and just coming out and managing the game, especially when it gets into the fourth quarter. But these are all good information for me down the line, so just keep getting better as the season goes on. I think that’s the key.”

The Magic nearly pulled off a wild comeback

The Magic played on Saturday, claiming an impressive win over the Knicks in Orlando before flying to Boston on Saturday night, arriving at 1 a.m. 

As such, they were without Jalen Suggs (who doesn’t play in back-to-backs) and Paolo Banchero, who is dealing with a groin strain.

Everything appeared on track for a perfectly normal game at first. The Magic trailed by as many as 26, and the Celtics appeared to have a death-grip on the game after a 48-point second quarter that sent them into halftime with 80 points and a 23-point lead. 

However, with 9:44 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Magic began walking down the lead with the help — as everyone would doubtless expect — of 30 points from Jett Howard (a third-year player whose option the Magic actually declined, in a rare vote of no-confidence) as well as 18 from Jase Richardson, the 25th-overall pick whose previous scoring high was three. With 1:11 remaining, a pair of free throws by Howard cut the Celtics’ lead to 133-127, just a two-possession game. 

“Whether you win or lose, there’s always possessions you can get better,” Joe Mazzulla said. “So 15 or 20 of them, a couple of their guys played really well, and there’s obviously possessions that we could be better defensively.”

Of course, “15 or 20” possessions is a ton of possessions — more than enough to swing the game. The Celtics were lucky; Brown’s heroics, just enough stops, and just enough free throws down the stretch helped make the rally a headscratching footnote rather than a five-alarm fire. 

“Teams can come back, get back into the game,” Brown said. “Twenty points is not really anything, so you can’t go away from what got us the lead. You’ve got to keep playing the same brand of basketball.”

Neemias Queta twisted his ankle

The Celtics’ plus/minus star came up limping after a play at the rim in the first quarter and was listed as questionable. He never returned to action, and Mazzulla didn’t have an update on the center postgame. 

Notably, the Celtics initially played Chris Boucher in the second quarter, but they spent most of the game going small in Queta’s absence. 

Josh Minott and Jordan Walsh tag-teamed center minutes

In Queta’s absence, the Celtics tried some experimental stuff. Some worked, some didn’t. 

However, both Josh Minott and Jordan Walsh played well. Minott in particular had a big game after playing a little less over the last couple of weeks — 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting with seven rebounds and a block.

Minott assured reporters he’s not angry at losing his short-lived starting spot. 

“If you were poor and I gave you $20 and then instantly took $20, you never really felt like you had it, right?” Minott said. “So it’s kind of like, I don’t know, it was nice, but I kind of am used to this position. So it’s not like anything insane.”

Walsh, who has taken his spot, assisted on both of Brown’s late 3-pointers and played 24 minutes of his trademark defense. 

“Jordan has the body type to do it,” Brown said. “You know what I mean? He’s athletic. He’s got a six-frame, long arms, and I’ve seen him in practice be defensively very active.”

Meanwhile, Mazzulla offered a telling quote about Minott and Walsh postgame. 

“I thought Josh gave us some great stuff — just his ability to shoot tonight, and also he did a great job screening,” Mazzulla said. “I think Jordan’s getting better and better, regardless of where he plays. So we’ve just got to keep chipping away at those two guys. They’ve got a chance to really help us, and they’re getting better and better each game.”

That, in many ways, sums up one of the biggest plotlines this season for the Celtics: They have some imperfect-but-promising players who could play a role on the team’s next contender. More than likely, that contender is at the very least some 10 months from materializing. In the interim, chipping away at players like Minott and Walsh to carve out contributors will be really important. 

“We’re mad interchangeable, especially with the defensive versatility that we all have,” Minott said. “So just staying true to myself and knowing what I can do.”

Anfernee Simons is getting comfortable, too

After putting together one of his better performances against the Nets, Simons had another hyper-efficient game against the Magic — this time in a win. Coming off the bench, Simons scored 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting, which included 4-for-7 shooting from deep. 

The Celtics are an odd roster full of mismatched parts, but one thing they have in surprising depth is bucket-getters, and Simons is as good at bucket-getting as they come. His back-to-back baskets late in the first quarter that pushed the lead to double-digits included a 3-pointer preceded by a nose-scrunching step-back, and then a silky floater which was one of several he hit on Sunday.

Mazzulla said Simons is no longer easing himself into games when he comes in off the bench. 

“In previous years, that was kind of my thing — just ease into the game and see how they guarded me, and then I started being more aggressive in the second half,” Simons said. “Here, obviously, I don’t have that much time to be able to ease into the games, so taking the opportunities as they are – just being myself, aggressive, and also making the right plays, as well. So I think simplifying that way has been easy for me for the past couple games.”

Sam Hauser showed some life

Hauser has been mired in a nasty shooting slump. He was shooting 20 percent in 10 games in November prior to Sunday. 

However, Hauser went 4-for-7 from deep against the Magic — two each in the first and third quarters – and he finished with 14 points. 

Getting Hauser going again would add an important dimension to the Celtics. Floor spacers make work a lot easier for the bucket getters, and when they work in tandem, the results can be explosive. 

The Celtics needed that one

The Celtics’ next nine games include the Pistons, Timberwolves and Cavaliers back-to-back, Knicks, Lakers, Raptors twice and Heat. Every Eastern Conference opponent during that stretch (including the Magic) is ahead of the Celtics in the standings, while the Lakers and Timberwolves are third and seventh in the Western Conference respectively. 

All that is to say that when a team arrives in Boston with half its roster on the bench on the second night of a back-to-back and surrenders a 26-point lead, you really need to secure the win when it’s available to you. 

The Celtics will be well-rested when they close NBA Cup group play against the visiting Pistons on Wednesday. 

The Pistons are 14-2. The game tips off at 5 p.m.