Boston Celtics Search for Identity Continues After 93-90 Loss to the Magic

The Boston Celtics fall to 2-2 after losing to the Orlando Magic, 93-90, Monday evening at the TD Garden.

The Orlando Magic (2-2) visited the TD Garden for an early match-up against the Boston Celtics (2-2) and surprised everyone by dominating the Celtics for a wire-to-wire victory, 93-90.

So far, in the (very) early portion of the season, Boston has struggled to contain opposing team’s big men rolling to the basket, and Nikola Vucevic was no different–punishing the Celtics with 24 points on 11-of-18 shooting. Vucevic also pulled down 12 rebounds.

Second-year forward Jonathan Isaac also performed well for the Magic, with backbreaking offensive rebounds and put backs. Isaac scored 18 points  on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds .

Aside from Gordon Hayward, the Celtics starting five struggled mightily on offense, missing open look after open look. Kyrie Irving continues to search for an offensive groove and needed 19 shots to score 21 points, while Jayson Tatum had an uncharacteristic night with just 7 points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field.

Jaylen Brown looked to be much more involved than he has been in the previous two games, but was not efficient shooting 2-of-9 from the field. To put the exclamation point on this, Al Horford, the picture of consistency for the Celtics, shot 5-of-13 from the field and 1-for-7 from distance. It was one of those early season nights for the Celtics.

The night was not all bad for the Celtics, as Gordon Hayward continues to make strides in his comeback season.

Hayward has looked increasingly comfortable on the floor and although he still lacks the explosiveness he had prior to his injury, he appears to be playing freely without second guessing himself. Hayward contributed 11 points on 3/5 shooting from distance in twenty four minutes.

Let’s take a closer look at how this game played out.