BOSTON — For the Boston Celtics, their 61-win regular season no longer exists. It’s merely an archive of their past accomplishments. All that matters now is their first-round playoff matchup: The Orlando Magic. Led by Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, injuries plagued the Magic this season, but both stars are healthy heading into the postseason.
Orlando boasted one of the best defenses in basketball, highlighted by elite physicality and a group of lanky defenders at every position. Jalen Suggs and Mo Wagner are out for the season, but guys like Jonathan Isaac, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Goga Bitadze are ready to help keep up the pace on defense, and Cole Anthony has been a nice offensive sparkplug for Jamahl Mosley to deploy.
And as the Celtics prepare to face the challenges that the Magic pose, Joe Mazzulla isn’t taking anything for granted.
“They’re well-coached,” he said before Game 1 on Sunday. “I think they’re better than a seven seed.”
Joe Mazzulla wants Celtics to focus on taking away Magic's strengths
Boston and Orlando excel in different areas. The Magic’s defense vs. the Celtics’ well-rounded offensive attack. The Magic’s desire to get to the rim vs. the Celtics’ three-point-heavy game plan.
On the one hand, Boston could simply choose to double down on their strengths. Bury the Magic in areas of the game where they are unable to find as much success as the Celtics.
That’s not how Mazzulla sees it.
“It comes down to the margins, right?” Mazzulla explained. “They have an innate ability to get to the free-throw line. We have to keep them off the free-throw line. They're a great rebounding team. We have to rebound the basketball. They’re physical defensively. We have to make sure we're physical and don't turn the ball over.
“So those margins, regardless of what time of year or what type of game it is, those things are the most important.”
The series could play out in a variety of ways. If the Celtics get hot from behind the arc, there will be a lot of pressure on the Magic to match their offensive output. Yet if Boston is cold, they’ll have to find other ways to get around Orlando’s physicality. That’s why Mazzulla’s strategy will be so important.
If anything goes wrong for the Celtics, they can rely on their plan to take away the Magic’s biggest strengths. By eliminating those, it will put Boston in an immediately advantageous position.
“If you execute those, you got a chance to win,” Mazzulla said. “If you don't, it puts more pressure on you. I think it starts with that. And every game takes on the life of its own based on different circumstances. Who’s playing well, who’s not. So we just got to be ready to answer the call of what each game has in store for us.”