The Boston Celtics bought trounced by the Orlando Magic in a Friday matinee sport, marking their fourth lack of the 12 months and replicated earlier defeats.

Of their first lack of the season, the Celtics had been taken down by the Minnesota Timberwolves – among the finest defenses within the league. Jaden McDaniels denied Jayson Tatum the basketball, Rudy Gobert clogged the lane, and Minnesota’s bodily fashion of play severely disrupted the Celtics’ offensive movement.

In opposition to Orlando, it was deja vu. The Magic, a top-three protection, had been ready to make use of their physicality to point out up the Celtics on each ends. Defensively, the Magic had been capable of get to the rim comfortable, cruising into the paint and pushing previous the Celtics for offensive rebounds with little resistance.

“We simply gotta play more durable,” Jayson Tatum mentioned after the Magic loss. “Handle the ball, get to the spots we need to get to, play with extra tempo. They attempt to sluggish you down.”

Orlando ended the night time with 60 factors within the paint to Boston’s 40 and corralled 13 offensive rebounds for 21 second-chance factors. Former Celtic Mo Wagner exploded for a 27-point night time, dominating inside on an evening the place the Celtics had no solutions inside.

Early on, Jaylen Brown was cooking, and he was carrying the Celtics’ offense. On an evening when Jrue Vacation was sidelined, he and Kristaps Porzingis had been capable of generate some much-needed factors. However outdoors of Brown, Boston wasn’t discovering a lot success on offense. And when Brown went chilly within the second half, and Porzingis exited with an harm, the whole lot went incorrect.

With out these two main the way in which, Boston’s offensive rhythm shut down. The bodily protection of Orlando, spearheaded by Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony (at instances), was sufficient to disrupt the Celtics.

“Was it effort, was it toughness, was it execution?” head coach Joe Mazzulla contemplated after the sport. “I’m undecided which one it was, so I don’t need to touch upon it, however clearly undoubtedly pissed off once you go empty possession after empty possession, after which they’re scoring on open threes and offensive rebounds.”

The Celtics’ loss to the 76ers may even be partially blamed on a scarcity of physicality, as Joel Embiid’s presence as a roamer across the paint restricted Boston’s effectiveness inside.

Add within the loss to the Charlotte Hornets, which was primarily a problem of laziness, bodily play and hard-nosed protection have been kryptonite for the Celtics this season, particularly after they have did not get their offensive gears turning early.