Preview: Boston Celtics vs Orlando Magic

It has been a good week for the Boston Celtics thus far. They are currently on a four game winning streak, their longest since mid-December, and Marcus Smart was named to the Rising Stars Challenge. There is also the possibility of Isaiah Thomas being named an All-Star reserve tonight and then the Celtics take on the Orlando Magic for their fifth straight win on Friday night.

The Celtics are 26-21, a half game lead over the Detroit Pistons for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Orlando Magic, who recently were in the playoff hunt, have fallen off drastically and sit at 20-24 and out of the playoff picture at the moment. Boston comes in with the best momentum they have had in the past month while Orlando has won only one of their previous 12 games.

The reason for the loss of ‘magic’ for Orlando is their lack of offense. Over their 12 game skid they have failed to reach at least 95 points seven times. Defensively, however, they’re solid as they hold opponents to 99.6 points per game, seventh best in the league. It’s a typical Scott Skiles coached team; great on defense but lacks offense. Skiles is a good coach however and should be able to turn this team around soon, or else may not have a job next season.

During Boston’s four game winning streak, they have upped the defensive intensity. They have held two of their opponents to low-90’s and the other two barely cracked 100. Orlando is near the bottom of the league in scoring, averaging a measly 98.8 points per game. If Boston is able to keep the intensity then it should be another low-scoring game for the Magic.

The matchup to watch in this game is between Avery Bradley and Victor Oladipo. Bradley is coming off his best scoring game this season with 27 points against the Denver Nuggets. He is also averaging 19.3 points per game over his last six games. His shooting has started to come back to form the past couple of games as well. He’ll have a harder time on Friday if Oladipo is on him though.

Oladipo is one of the quickest and best defensive players in the league. This matchup should be good because they both pride themselves on defense. Oladipo averages 1.3 steals per game and Bradley averages 1.6 per game. Both players have the ability to have a big night offensively on any given night, but whoever is able to top the other one in this game will give their team a big advantage.

The X-Factor in Friday’s game is Jae Crowder. Whenever Oladipo isn’t on Bradley he will be on Crowder. Jae Crowder is coming off back-to-back poor showings on offense over the past two games: 9-25 from the field and 2-11 from behind the arc. He still contributed on the boards and defensively, but the Celtics need his offense as well. He is in a little funk at the moment and playing well against a good defensive team like Orlando can give him a lot of confidence.

This is arguably the best Boston has looked all season and I expect it to continue at home against Orlando. Getting this fifth win in a row would be a huge confidence booster for this young team as it would be their longest winning streak of the season. The Celtics take on the Magic again Sunday night.

Next: Marcus Smart Named to Rising Stars Challenge

The Magic are struggling as bad as any team right now and Boston is playing as well as about anyone. The Celtics have scored at least 110 points in each of their past four games. That may be hard to do against Orlando on Friday, but the way the Magic are playing anything seems to be possible. I expect this to be a defensive game most of the way but Boston should pull away because their offense has been on fire as of late. The biggest key is to not give them any confidence in the beginning of the game that might give them a spark.