Recap: Boston Celtics Win Fifth Straight

The Boston Celtics are one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now and are in full stride as the All-Star break approaches. This 113-94 win over the Orlando Magic marks the fifth straight win for the Celtics, their highest mark of the season. It also improves them to 27-21 and puts them tied with the Atlanta Hawks for fourth in the Eastern Conference.

It was the same old story for Boston on Friday night. They played an all-around team game and had great defensive intensity. The Celtics had seven players score in double-figures and three off the bench scored at least 15 points.

Kelly Olynyk, who has been on fire lately, and Marcus Smart each contributed 16 points off the bench. Smart shot very well Friday night against a good defensive team. He went 5-9 from the field and 3-5 from behind the arc, a nice bounce back game from his struggling one against Denver in which he did not record a basket.

Another blow out game meant that Boston’s starters once again got a lot of rest. The only player to record more than 30 minutes tonight was Avery Bradley (33 minutes). R.J. Hunter and James Young each saw time at the end of the game but combined to shoot 0-3 in nine total minutes.

The biggest surprises for Boston was from Evan Turner and Jonas Jerebko. Both players have had respectable seasons thus far but both played above what Boston is use to seeing against Orlando. Jerebko recorded his first double-double of the season as he set a new season high with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He did not miss from the field or free-throw line all game.

Turner, who is an underrated passer, added eight assists to his 15 points for the Celtics. He has now scored more than 10 points in the past six straight games. Turner has also given the Celtics valuable minutes off the bench during blowout wins in order to rest their starters.

All five starters for Orlando reached double-figures in scoring and Shabazz Napier also added 13 points off the bench.

The Magic shot a measly 40.5 percent from the field while Boston shot 50.0 percent and 41.7 percent from behind the arc. It was clear the Boston’s defense was the better of the two.

The game started out slow and Orlando was able to hang around for most of the first quarter. All of Boston’s starters were able to contribute as four of the five starters scored in the first quarter. Isaiah Thomas and Jared Sullinger combined for the first 15 points for Boston. Sullinger had a nice game as he recorded 11 points and 11 rebounds in the win.

The Celtics were able to gain a six point lead near the end of the first quarter but led 26-22 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter started out as the Marcus Smart and Evan Turner show, although, a three by Avery Bradley gave Boston their first double-digit lead. Olynyk came in big for the Celtics midway through the quarter but five quick points by Jerebko gave the Celtics a 13 point lead with about four minutes in the half.

The magic were able to claw their way back a little as the Celtics’ lead shrank to eight at half, 58-50.

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Orlando started the second half on a 6-0 run before Jae Crowder scored five points of his own. It seemed like Orlando might make a game of it in the second half, even though Boston was able to get the lead to double-digits at times. The Magic stayed close and played competitive all quarter. Boston barely out-scored Orlando in the third quarter (28-27) but still led 86-77 heading to the fourth.

The defensive intensity for Boston picked up in the fourth quarter, and that was the difference. It was a close game for about half a quarter but Orlando went on two three minute stretches in which they were shut out, including to end the game. Orlando was mostly led by Napier in the fourth quarter, a good reasoning of why they were only able to score 17 points.

Kelly Olynyk scored nine of the first 11 points for Boston in the quarter and gave them a 97-81 lead with 8:40 to play. It was pretty obvious that the Celtics had this one in the bag at that point and the lead only grew more. Boston led 108-83 before starting to put their end of the bench players in to finish the game.

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It was a quality win for Boston as it was a defensive struggle for most of the game, like I predicted. This win, like I said earlier, moves Boston to 27-21 on the season and 14-10 at home. The Celtics and Magic will travel to Orlando to face-off on Sunday night, on NBA TV.