The Orlando Magic will visit the Boston Celtics on Sunday as they attempt to avoid the play-in tournament.
Orlando (45-36) is currently the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. The Magic have the same record as the sixth-seeded Toronto Raptors, who own the tiebreaker.
The Magic helped their case by beating the Chicago Bulls 127-103 on Friday night. As a result, they can finish no lower than eighth place.
Orlando, which has won five in a row, will finish sixth if it defeats Boston (55-26) and Toronto loses to the tanking Brooklyn Nets. Sunday’s matchup will be the regular season finale for both the Magic and Celtics.
“If we can take care of the basketball and play the right way we give ourselves a chance every single night,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Can we take care of it against a great defensive Boston team? And how do we guard them? The difference is they get to the paint and they shoot the 3. So, we have to make sure the game plan is tight, our communication is at a high level and are we playing with the same spirit for 48 minutes?”
The Celtics are coming off one of their best offensive efforts of the season. Boston tied an NBA record by making 29 3-pointers during Friday night’s 144-118 victory over New Orleans. Ten Boston players made at least one 3-pointer in the win.
“Hopefully we didn’t use them all up in one game,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said.
Sam Hauser made 8 of 12 3-point shots and led the Celtics with 24 points. Boston clinched the East’s No. 2 seed with the win.
“Fifty-five wins — obviously we’ve got one more left — but that’s something to be proud of,” Hauser said. “And being the two seed in the East is something to be proud of.
“Coming into the year, we had faith in ourselves, I think, but we didn’t really know how it was going to look ,and you kind of could tell within the first 10 games that we were trying to figure it out. But sometimes the best way to figure yourself out is trial and error. And throughout the year, I think we just got better and better and better and really bought into the identity of just being the harder playing team.”
Orlando will also be seeking its fourth straight road victory and is 19-19 on the road overall.
Orlando’s resurgence has coincided with Franz Wagner’s return from an ankle injury. Wager has played in five games since missing 47 of the previous 51 contests.
“I feel pretty good,” Wagner said following Friday’s win. “Continuing to work my way back. It’s not perfect everything yet, but we’ll get there. … It’s definitely more fun than rehab, so I’ll get there.
“Try to get a win (Sunday). Keep working on our stuff and see how the rankings are.”
Jaylen Brown, who didn’t play in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s win against New Orleans, is averaging a team-high 28.7 points per game.
Paolo Banchero (22.2), Wagner (20.6), and Desmond Bane (20.2) are Orlando’s leading scorers.
–Field Level Media
