Three Studs, Two Duds from Celtics’ Short-Handed Tab vs. Magic

The Boston Celtics continued their road trip with a 108-104 losses to the Orlando Magic in Monday night’s game at the Kia Center.

Boston fell to 22-7, while Orlando improved to 19-12.

Monday’s matchup truly marked a tale of two halves. The Celtics got off to a hot start in the Sunshine State, building a 15-point halftime advantage over an even more short-handed Magic team.

Something definitely changed in the second half as the Magic came out firing, got hot from the perimeter and blew past the Celtics. Orlando won the second half 65-46 en route to a four-point victory.

Here are three studs and two duds from the Celtics’ loss.

STUDIES
Jaylen Brown
Brown came rolling out of the gates Monday night for the Celtics. The reigning NBA Finals MVP tallied 15 rushing points against the Magic in the first quarter. He also nearly brought Boston back, draining a key bucket that cut the deficit to one in the fourth quarter.

Brown led the scoring for the Celtics with 35 points to lift the offense with Jayson Tatum out with an illness.

Monday marked the Browns’ fourth 30-point game of the season.

Jrue Holiday
White turned in a solid effort that would have looked better without his five turnovers. Holiday made an impact play in the fourth quarter, delivering 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals.

Kristaps Porzingis
The Celtics big man consistently got to the line in Orlando, draining 13 of his 14 free throw attempts on Monday night. That partially offset a poor shooting night from the field, where Porzingis went just 2-for-10 and missed all four three-point attempts.

DUDS
Boston’s three-point shooting
Both teams combined to shoot under 20% from beyond the arc for most of the first half. The Celtics especially struggled with perimeter shooting on an 8-for-32 night.

Sam Hauser
Boston’s sharpshooter played 16 minutes Monday night and didn’t attempt a shot and committed three fouls.