Mojave blasts 36-22 fourth-quarter onslaught, blows right past Green Jackets Reuters.
The Orlando Magic, who only won 5 of their first 16 games last season, have been transformed this season. Today, the Magic hosted the Eastern Conference leader, Celtic, and in the fourth quarter, the Magic used more than 60% hitting rate to kill the 36-22 firepower advantage, and crushed the green shirts in one breath, with 113-96 to get 6 consecutive victories.
Backup center M. Moritz Wagner, whose 13 solo points including 10 straight in the fourth quarter were key to the Magic's ability to pick up the slack, said, "Sometimes you need to be the one to change the course of the game, and you need to take advantage of opportunities like this and enjoy the process."
M. Wagner scored a team-high 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, while his brother, F. Wagner (Franz Wagner), tallied 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Paolo Banchero scored 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Cole Anthony added 16 points, six assists and three rebounds.
After losing their first game of the Midseason Tournament to the Bucks by 20 points, the Magic went on a three-game winning streak and are now holding off the Green Jackets for first place in the division. "We swallowed a loss in the first game against the Bucks, which was a bit of a letdown because we didn't realize it was the Midseason Tournament and played a little casual. We gave away the win. The last three midseason tournaments we played hard and took those games seriously." Banchero said.
The Magic and Celtic were evenly matched in the first three quarters of the game, taking a 3-point lead, but throughout the fourth quarter they shot 62.5% as a team, compared to their opponents' 23.5%, and further highlighting that the Magic are the 2nd best defensively efficient team in the league this season.
Statistically, the Magic have held their opponents to 100 points or less in six games this season, and they have won all six of those games.
"When you can't shoot the ball, you feel lost. But at the end of the day, we didn't do a good job of converting on offense and offensive rebounds." Celtic head coach Joe Mazzulla said.
Backcourt core Haller Day (Jrue Holiday) missed his first appearance of the season due to a sprained right ankle, Kristaps Porzingis (Kristaps Porzingis) was in the third quarter due to the tightness of the left calf early exit, less than the two main forces, but also the green shirts offense and defense finally collapsed the key to the green shirts.
"Of course we'd be a stronger team if everyone was healthy, but there's always going to be someone missing every night, so you can't use that as an excuse." Jayson Tatum said.
Tatum had 26 points, five rebounds and three assists, Jaylen Brown scored 18 points on just 6-of-22 shooting and White scored 16 points; Bolsinger had nine points and four rebounds before exiting the game.
