Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner combined to score 59 points in Game 1 on Sunday night. They both had impressive evenings, posting efficient performances against the two-seeded Boston Celtics. Yet, at night’s end, the Celtics earned a 17-point win, and the Orlando Magic only managed to scrape together 86 points. So what happened?
The 59 points that Banchero and Wagner scored came on a combined 51 shot attempts between the two guys. They shot 24-of-51, accounting for 63.0% of the Magic’s total shot attempts and 68.6% of their total points. Only one other player on Orlando’s roster scored three or more points—Jonathan Isaac.
And that’s how the Celtics like it.
The Celtics' defense on Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner was very calculated
In the Magic’s Play-In game against the Atlanta Hawks, Cole Anthony and Anthony Black combined to score 42 points off the bench, and Orlando earned a 120-95 win to advance to the playoffs.
Banchero and Wagner had inefficient nights, but it didn’t matter because the rest of their teammates picked them up. In Game 1, the Celtics didn’t let that happen.
Rather than sending extra bodies at Banchero and Wagner, forcing the ball out of their hands, Boston decided to either show help or completely live with one-on-one matchups. They let Banchero and Wagner dominate the scoring column because they knew they could win that way.
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner fell right into the Celtics' Game 1 trap - and it could define the series pic.twitter.com/yznezyN59C
— Jack Simone (@JackSimoneNBA) April 22, 2025
Nobody else on the Magic was able to find a rhythm because Banchero and Wagner weren’t creating space for them. The Celtics, whose lineup is full of elite defenders, were able to win their one-on-one matchups enough times to mitigate Banchero and Wagner’s scoring.
When Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser (both of whom are underrated defenders) were out of the game, Banchero and Wagner defaulted to targeting Kristaps Porzingis in the pick-and-roll. But since most of the time, Jrue Holiday was guarding one of them in the action, that left them targeting two of Boston’s best defenders.
On top of that, the Celtics exploited two of Banchero and Wagner’s biggest weak points: Neither is a great shooter.
They know that if they give them space to work, they could live with them taking tough middys and layups at the rim, especially when Porzingis was able to help over on drives (while also cutting off the passing lane).
Banchero actually had an above-average game from behind the arc, but by and large, both guys did their damage inside the arc. Because of that, the Celtics’ high-powered three-point attack was able to win the math game.