The Celtics had as many players in street clothes as in uniform Sunday — yet still finished the 2025-26 regular season with a signature victory.
Having already clinched the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, head coach Joe Mazzulla opted to sit all of Boston’s biggest names against the Orlando Magic and fielded an eight-man skeleton crew made up mostly end-of-the-bench players.
Five of those eight (Ron Harper Jr., Amari Williams, Max Shulga, John Tonje and Dalano Banton) made at least 18 appearances in the G League this season. Banton had just signed one day earlier to fill the Celtics’ final open roster spot. The only active players with a chance to contribute in the upcoming NBA playoffs, barring a rash of injuries, were Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh and Luka Garza.
But Mazzulla has championed his team’s depth throughout the season, and the Celtics’ stay-ready group delivered, beating a full-strength Magic squad 113-108 at TD Garden.
“We said it all year: One through 15, whoever steps on the floor, there’s an expectation to put us in position with an opportunity to win,” Mazzulla said. “Stick to the process of winning. Today is no different than the other 81 games from the standpoint of, we had five guys that were able to play — we had seven, eight guys — and the expectation is to put us in position to win. To execute, to play hard, to play together.”
Scheierman (30 points), Harper (27 points) and Tonje (13 points) all set career highs for points while shooting a combined 14-for-34 from 3-point range. Garza also turned in a career-high 27 points with 12 rebounds and hit the biggest shot of the night: an off-balance, tightly contested 3-pointer over Wendell Carter Jr. with 32 seconds remaining.
That tiebreaking shot put the Celtics ahead for good after Orlando rallied back from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit. Scheierman, who also had seven assists, six rebounds, two steals and a block, outmuscled Carter on the ensuing possession to force a jump ball and help secure the win.
Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Neemias Queta, Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard, Nikola Vucevic and Hugo Gonzalez all did not dress for the game. Afterward, Brown tweeted: “I love this team.”
“Today was just a lot of fun,” Scheierman said. “Obviously, there was probably a lot of outside unknowns (about) what was going to happen, looking at the lineup. We were joking in the locker room, coming out for layup lines, looking at each other like, ‘Oh, we’ve got seven people out here.’ But it was just a lot of fun. Once the game started going and we started making plays, guys were just feeding off each other. It was just a lot of fun, and a lot of joy on the court.”
The result, coupled with the Philadelphia 76ers’ victory over the tanking Milwaukee Bucks, dropped the Magic to eighth in the East standings. They’ll visit the 76ers on Wednesday in the 7 vs. 8 play-in game, with the winner advancing to face the Celtics in the best-of-seven first round.
A Celtics-Magic draw would be a rematch of last year’s rough-and-tumble opening-round series, which Boston won in five games. Many of the key Orlando figures from that series remain (Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Carter, head coach Jamahl Mosley), but the Celtics did not see then-injured starting point guard Jalen Suggs or offseason pickup Desmond Bane last postseason.
Boston Celtics guard Jordan Walsh left, gets around Orlando Magic forward Tristan da Silva right, during the first half at the TD Garden on April 12, 2026. (CJ Gunther/Boston Herald)
Boston and Philadelphia last met in the playoffs in 2021. The Sixers currently are without star center Joel Embiid, who underwent an emergency appendectomy this week and has yet to return.
The Celtics went 2-2 against each of their potential first-round opponents this season, with six of the eight matchups coming in October or November.
The JV C’s pushed Orlando from the jump, forcing four turnovers in the opening four minutes, and held a 10-8 lead at the first timeout. But they struggled early to generate offense with most of their primary creators unavailable.
Harper, who was celebrating his 26th birthday, was an early bright spot with 12 first-quarter points on 4-of-7 shooting, plus two steals. His teammates shot a combined 2-for-16 in the first, however, and Orlando led by as many as 11.
Scheierman and Garza both reached double figures during the second quarter, and the Celtics kept it close, trailing 61-52 at halftime. They pulled even closer early in the second half, then surged ahead over the course of a dominant third quarter.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Walsh, Shulga and Harper cut Orlando’s lead to 71-70, and another by Scheierman shortly thereafter tied it up at 73-73. A driving dunk by Harper and a Garza putback capped a 13-2 run and gave Boston a four-point lead.
All told, the Celtics scored on nine straight possessions. Five of those were from beyond the arc, headlined by a high-arcing Scheierman stepback over center Goga Bitadze. They outscored Orlando 42-20 in the third quarter and took a 94-81 lead into the fourth.
“Luka said it before the game: This is for all the times that we’re on the bench, all the times that we wanted an opportunity,” said Harper, who went from training camp tryout to two-way contract to standard NBA deal over the course of this season. We had a chance to go out there and show it. I just feel like we all went out there with the utmost confidence, (and) all the guys sitting out had a lot of confidence in us. At the end of the day, we just went out there and executed. That was the most important
Mosley appeared set on resting Bane, whom he played for just six minutes over the first three quarters. But with the Magic on the ropes, he reinserted the veteran guard and kept him on the floor for the entire final period.
Bane hit a three to cut it to 108-104 with two minutes remaining, and the Celtics turned it over on their next two possessions. Scheierman sprinted back after the second of those giveaways to block a Wagner layup, but Suggs followed with a triple that pulled Orlando even.
Moments later, Garza received a sideline inbounds pass from Banton and, looking to capitalize on a 2-for-1 opportunity, chucked up a turnaround three with 21 seconds on the shot clock. Bang. A fired-up Garza emphatically celebrated as he jogged toward the bench, and Boston never trailed again.
It was a fitting end to a breakout season for the veteran big man, who’s stuck behind Queta and Vucevic on the Celtics’ depth chart but has proven he can be an impact player when called upon.
“It felt awesome,” Garza said. “Seeing it go in, just feeling the crowd too, it was definitely a top moment for me.”
Tonje played 30 minutes in the win — including almost the entire fourth quarter — nearly tripling his previous career total of NBA minutes played (12 across five garbage-time appearances). Banton, who hadn’t appeared in an NBA game since February, played the final 18:37, finishing with seven assists, four rebounds, four blocks, one steal and six turnovers. Shulga made his first NBA start.
“If you’re constantly in an optional shoot or playing in a stay-ready game, you could see it as if your job is meaningless,” Mazzulla said. “But they have to stay ready, because at any moment, as soon as they step on the floor, you’re held to the same standard. I think that’s what the guys who were on the court today are looking for. So it’s more of a validation to the staff, but really to the locker room, that they care about winning, and they care about playing.”