Celtics vs Magic Game 3 Review
The Celtics lost game 3 to the Magic 95-93 in an embarassing effort. The first two games start out with the Celtics struggling in the first half offensively before figuring things out in the second, but in this game, it was the complete opposite. While the first half was far from perfect, they still managed to put up 59 points, shooting 55% from the floor and 50% from 3, only on 14 attempts, however. This low output from 3 was a sign of things to come offensively. The biggest problem for the Celtics was turnovers, with 21 in the game. The first half consisted of 11, but was mitigated by elite shot making, however this was the opposite in the second half, and it came back to bite them.
The second half was likely the worst half of the entire season for the Celtics, recording just 34 points, 2 more than the 2nd quarter alone, and losing the 3rd quarter 24-11, allowing the Magic to get right back into the game. The 3rd quarter has been the Celtics' best quarter through the first 2 games, scoring 30 and 31 with 4 total turnovers through the first two games, but once again it was the complete opposite in this game. The team shot a brutal 3-17, 1-8 from 3 and recorded 5 more turnovers. Just about everything that could have gone wrong in this quarter did, and it cost them the game.
The 4th quarter was a better offensively, shooting 8-17, but still poor shooting from three (1-5) and another 3 turnovers. Luckily, they locked in defensively, holding Orlando to 22 points on 6-18, 5/6 coming from Paolo and Franz. But it was too late, the Celtics dug themselves a hole they could not climb out of with sloppy play. The final sequence was a bit strange, with the replay of the Celtics calling a timeout with about a second left, but instead was given .3 seconds to get a shot off, which they of course did not. But it should have never come down to this if the Celtics played a C- second half instead of an F.
How did this happen?
There is plenty of blame to go around, but in terms of individual players, , unfortunately a big amount of it has to fall on the shoulders of Kristaps Porzingis.. Through 3 games he is shooting 28% from the field, 0% from 3 and scoring 10 points a game, a 9 point drop from his regular season average. In this game he was 3/10 with 7 points and 0/5 with 0 in the second half. If he plays just a subpar game, the Celtics may be up 3-0.
The biggest problem with this though is his defense. If the shot is not falling that's one thing, as he is a great defender and can still be very impactful on that side of the ball. But that was not the case here, getting blown by all game, and twice in the final two minutes to help the Magic win the game. He has to start playing better, or this series could drag on much longer than it should, and the Celtics will have no chance against the Cavaliers.
As well as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown shot from the floor for the game, they bare a big bulk of blame as well, combining for 13 of the teams 21 turnovers. Not only that, but they played a huge part in the third quarter meltdown, combining for 7 points on 1/7 shooting. The team was one of the best at not turning the ball over in the regular season, so this shouldn't be a consistent issue, but the Jays have had some high turnover post seasons and in crucial games in the past, so it is important they do not let those bad habits creep back in.
The last person we will look at is Joe Mazzulla and his rotations as well as the teams inconsistency. Basketball is often talked about as a game of runs, and this game was the embodiment of that. There was never a point in the game where any lead was safe for either team. The Magic went on a 16-5 run to end the first quarter, with the Celtics going over 5 minutes without a made fg. Then in the 2nd quarter, the Celtics made a 19-5 run spanning nearly 6 minutes in the second quarter.
The Celtics were up 10 to start the third, in control of the game, and completely blew it, scoring a basket to open the third before allowing an 18-1 run, letting the Magic completely take over the game before calling a timeout. This cannot happen. Mazzulla has been criticized for his timeout usage since he took the job, and while it has gotten better, bad moments like this still slip in at crucial times. The team made 3 shots in the third quarter, that also can't happen. The wild swings of inconsistency has always been an issue for the team because of the lack of a "true point guard", and like many other issues, has mostly gone away, but in moments/games like this they can rear its ugly head, and they have to be taken control of much sooner.
Pritchard and Hauser were complete non factors, with Payton taking 2 shots in 25 minutes. Why not draw up a play for either of them? Hauser got run off the floor because of his defense, one way to mitigate this is if he evens it out with his shooting, but if he isn't even taking shots, he is a complete negative. So far through 3 games, Hauser has played 35 minutes, taken 4 shots, and made none. Either create a few plays to get him clean looks or take him out for someone else.
If anybody can make a momentum swinging shot, it's those two. They, along with the entire team, abandoned their identity of three-point shooting, taking just 27 for the game, and have averaged a whopping 15 less three-point attempts per game, which has been a reason why the scoring output has been so much lower, and that falls on the coach. Orlando is great defensively, but the offense has become stagnant with iso ball which has led to the increase in turnovers and late clock bad shots, which feeds into the defenses game plan. Mazzulla has shown the ability to make mid series adjustments, and I believe he will in game 4, because this series absolutely cannot go to a 6th or 7th game.