Can Magic push Celtics? Four big questions entering first-round series originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Celtics haven’t been shy about their quest to repeat and have openly discussed what it would mean to become the first Boston squad to win back-to-back titles since 1969.
But they also know they can’t skip any steps, and that any quest for Banner 19 must start with full attention on their first-round opponent: the Orlando Magic.
The Magic finished the 2024-25 season at an even .500 (41-41) and drew the Celtics by ousting the Atlanta Hawks in the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in matchup Tuesday night. And while Boston is heavily favored, there’s still plenty of intrigue around an Orlando group that features a stifling defense and a blossoming young star.
Here are four questions we have about the Magic ahead of Sunday’s Game 1 at TD Garden:
1. Can Orlando score enough to hang with Boston?
The Magic are undeniably talented on the defensive end, posting the second-best defensive rating in the NBA (109.1 points per 100 possessions) this season. And yet they were almost equally inefficient on the offensive side. The Magic ranked 27th in the NBA with a 108.9 offensive rating, leaving them at a -0.2 net rating overall.
Orlando made an NBA-worst 11.2 3-pointers per game while shooting a league-worst 31.8 percent beyond the arc. (Even the 29th-ranked Wizards were at 33.5 percent.) The raw numbers might be even more jarring. The Celtics, who set an NBA record for 3-pointers made in a season (1,457), connected on 536 more 3-pointers overall than Orlando.
The Magic were the best team in the NBA in limiting opponent 3-pointers. Their opponents shot just 31.4 attempts per game — three fewer than the next-best mark in the league (Houston, 34.5) — and made just 11.4 per game. The Celtics average 17.8 3-point makes on 48.2 attempts per game, and have been twisting teams in a “2s vs. 3s” math-problem pretzel all season long.
Orlando posted a 10-18 record against the top 10 offenses in the NBA this season. The team’s 106.9 offensive rating in those games ranked 29th in the league, though the defense held steady at second overall, allowing 112.7 points per 100 possessions.
Injury woes make the numbers a little murky, but even in the second half of the season with stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner both healthy after oblique issues, the Magic still only ranked 21st in the NBA in offensive rating.
2. Can Cole Anthony be a consistent X-factor in this series?
Celtics fans don’t need any reminders of the sort of jolt that Cole Anthony can deliver off the bench. And if they did, they saw it first-hand in Orlando’s win over Atlanta in the 7 vs. 8 play-in matchup, where Anthony helped stiff-arm the Hawks’ third-quarter charge.
WHAT A SEQUENCE, COLE ANTHONY 😤 pic.twitter.com/LoQBR0dxJQ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 16, 2025
Teams lean more heavily on their cores in the playoffs, and yet Anthony feels vital to Orlando’s success. The Celtics will need solid bench contributions from soon-to-be Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard, top-3 net rating leader Luke Kornet, and 3-point connoisseur Sam Hauser. But Anthony has a way of changing the tempo and tenor of a game in a way that his stat line might not suggest.
Anthony was in the crowd at the Garden during Game 5 of the NBA Finals last year and got an up-close at Boston’s postseason dominance. The Magic are going to need a big series from him to compete, particularly in delivering an offensive jolt in a way that other defensive-minded role players like Jonathan Isaac and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope might not dent the box score.
3. Is Paolo Banchero ready for the spotlight?
It’s jarring that Banchero won’t turn 23 until next season. The former No. 1 pick has obvious star potential and showed that off during last year’s playoffs while averaging 27 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.1 steals over 37.4 minutes per game in the seven-game slugfest with Cleveland.
The question is, how will he perform on a playoff stage against the defending champs? We know there’s a Duke connection with Jayson Tatum which gives both players a little extra fuel. Tatum went so far as to remind everyone that there are “no friends out there” in the playoffs during his media session on Wednesday.
Tatum logged the most matchup time against Banchero of any Boston player during the regular season, limiting Banchero to 0-of-2 shooting in just four minutes of matchup time. The Celtics fed him a steady diet of different defenders otherwise.
Banchero needs to shoulder a hefty offensive burden if Orlando is going to make this a series, and it certainly feels like Tatum vs. Banchero could become an annual event in the NBA playoffs.
4. How do the Celtics react to what the Magic do well?
The Magic have endless size. They rebound. They defend. Only the Oklahoma City Thunder created more turnovers this season. Only the Los Angeles Lakers were more efficient at getting to the free throw line.
The Celtics thrived in many of the areas where the Magic compromised other teams. Boston ranked No. 1 in opponent free-throw rate and were second in the NBA in turnover rate. The Celtics’ offensive rebound rate surged in the second half of the season (thanks, Kornet!) and they were seventh in defensive rebound percentage for the season.
Still, matchups with Orlando featured two of Boston’s worst turnover percentages of the season (albeit both without Tatum). The Celtics’ offensive efficiency plummeted in both of those games.
The Celtics simply have to be ready for Orlando’s length and ability to disrupt the way that Boston prefers to play. Joe Mazzulla’s beloved margins appear vital to this series. And the Celtics will get pushed if they lose their focus.
Can Magic push Celtics? Four big questions entering first-round series
This Round 1 matchup features two very different play styles.
The Celtics haven’t been shy about their quest to repeat and have openly discussed what it would mean to become the first Boston squad to win back-to-back titles since 1969.
But they also know they can’t skip any steps, and that any quest for Banner 19 must start with full attention on their first-round opponent: the Orlando Magic.
The Magic finished the 2024-25 season at an even .500 (41-41) and drew the Celtics by ousting the Atlanta Hawks in the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in matchup Tuesday night. And while Boston is heavily favored, there’s still plenty of intrigue around an Orlando group that features a stifling defense and a blossoming young star.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Here are four questions we have about the Magic ahead of Sunday’s Game 1 at TD Garden:
1. Can Orlando score enough to hang with Boston?
The Magic are undeniably talented on the defensive end, posting the second-best defensive rating in the NBA (109.1 points per 100 possessions) this season. And yet they were almost equally inefficient on the offensive side. The Magic ranked 27th in the NBA with a 108.9 offensive rating, leaving them at a -0.2 net rating overall.
Orlando made an NBA-worst 11.2 3-pointers per game while shooting a league-worst 31.8 percent beyond the arc. (Even the 29th-ranked Wizards were at 33.5 percent.) The raw numbers might be even more jarring. The Celtics, who set an NBA record for 3-pointers made in a season (1,457), connected on 536 more 3-pointers overall than Orlando.
The Magic were the best team in the NBA in limiting opponent 3-pointers. Their opponents shot just 31.4 attempts per game — three fewer than the next-best mark in the league (Houston, 34.5) — and made just 11.4 per game. The Celtics average 17.8 3-point makes on 48.2 attempts per game, and have been twisting teams in a “2s vs. 3s” math-problem pretzel all season long.
Orlando posted a 10-18 record against the top 10 offenses in the NBA this season. The team’s 106.9 offensive rating in those games ranked 29th in the league, though the defense held steady at second overall, allowing 112.7 points per 100 possessions.
Injury woes make the numbers a little murky, but even in the second half of the season with stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner both healthy after oblique issues, the Magic still only ranked 21st in the NBA in offensive rating.
2. Can Cole Anthony be a consistent X-factor in this series?
Celtics fans don’t need any reminders of the sort of jolt that Cole Anthony can deliver off the bench. And if they did, they saw it first-hand in Orlando’s win over Atlanta in the 7 vs. 8 play-in matchup, where Anthony helped stiff-arm the Hawks’ third-quarter charge.
WHAT A SEQUENCE, COLE ANTHONY 😤 pic.twitter.com/LoQBR0dxJQ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT)
Teams lean more heavily on their cores in the playoffs, and yet Anthony feels vital to Orlando’s success. The Celtics will need solid bench contributions from soon-to-be Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard, top-3 net rating leader Luke Kornet, and 3-point connoisseur Sam Hauser. But Anthony has a way of changing the tempo and tenor of a game in a way that his stat line might not suggest.
Anthony was in the crowd at the Garden during Game 5 of the NBA Finals last year and got an up-close at Boston’s postseason dominance. The Magic are going to need a big series from him to compete, particularly in delivering an offensive jolt in a way that other defensive-minded role players like Jonathan Isaac and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope might not dent the box score.
3. Is Paolo Banchero ready for the spotlight?
It’s jarring that Banchero won’t turn 23 until next season. The former No. 1 pick has obvious star potential and showed that off during last year’s playoffs while averaging 27 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.1 steals over 37.4 minutes per game in the seven-game slugfest with Cleveland.
The question is, how will he perform on a playoff stage against the defending champs? We know there’s a Duke connection with Jayson Tatum which gives both players a little extra fuel. Tatum went so far as to remind everyone that there are “no friends out there” in the playoffs during his media session on Wednesday.
Tatum logged the most matchup time against Banchero of any Boston player during the regular season, limiting Banchero to 0-of-2 shooting in just four minutes of matchup time. The Celtics fed him a steady diet of different defenders otherwise.
Banchero needs to shoulder a hefty offensive burden if Orlando is going to make this a series, and it certainly feels like Tatum vs. Banchero could become an annual event in the NBA playoffs.
MORE CELTICS COVERAGE
4. How do the Celtics react to what the Magic do well?
The Magic have endless size. They rebound. They defend. Only the Oklahoma City Thunder created more turnovers this season. Only the Los Angeles Lakers were more efficient at getting to the free throw line.
The Celtics thrived in many of the areas where the Magic compromised other teams. Boston ranked No. 1 in opponent free-throw rate and were second in the NBA in turnover rate. The Celtics’ offensive rebound rate surged in the second half of the season (thanks, Kornet!) and they were seventh in defensive rebound percentage for the season.
Still, matchups with Orlando featured two of Boston’s worst turnover percentages of the season (albeit both without Tatum). The Celtics’ offensive efficiency plummeted in both of those games.
The Celtics simply have to be ready for Orlando’s length and ability to disrupt the way that Boston prefers to play. Joe Mazzulla’s beloved margins appear vital to this series. And the Celtics will get pushed if they lose their focus.
