{"id":229335,"date":"2026-04-13T05:14:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T05:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/229335\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T05:14:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T05:14:35","slug":"orlando-magic-fall-at-boston-celtics-at-philly-next-for-nba-play-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/229335\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic fall at Boston Celtics; at Philly next for NBA Play-In"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 For the second time in the last three years, the Magic<\/a> had to wait until the final day of the NBA<\/a> regular season to find out where they\u2019d be headed for the postseason.<\/p>\n

Needing a win in Boston<\/a> to secure at least homecourt advantage in the Play-In Tournament as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, Orlando<\/a> dropped the ball and fell 113-108 at TD Garden on Sunday night against a Celtics squad that only had eight players available.<\/p>\n

The result means the Magic drop to No. 8 in the Eastern Conference and will travel to No. 7 Philadelphia for the Play-In Tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to give them a ton of credit,\u201d Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said about the Celtics. \u201cThose eight players played hard. They played their hearts out, they played together, they moved it, they shared it and they made a ton of shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of that was given to them by us,\u201d he added. \u201cWe turned that ball over 19 times for 23 points. That\u2019s part of it. Again, they had a ton of shotmaking going on and us turning it over was part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trailing the Celtics by 13 points entering the fourth quarter, the Magic tied the game at 108-108 with 35.5 seconds left when Jalen Suggs sunk his seventh 3-pointer of the night. Luka Garza responded with a triple of his own to put Boston back in front by three with 31.6 seconds left in the game.<\/p>\n

Garza\u2019s 3-pointer ended up as the go-ahead shot when free throws from Jordan Walsh with 7.9 seconds remaining put Boston ahead by five points.<\/p>\n

With the No. 2 seed already locked up, the Celtics (56-26) sat out regulars Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Neemias Queta, Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard, Hugo Gonzalez and former Magic center Nikola Vucevic due to various injuries. In Tatum\u2019s case, it was to give the superstar additional rest after his return from a ruptured Achilles tendon.<\/p>\n

Instead, it was Baylor Scheierman (30 points), Ron Harper Jr. (27) and Garza (27) who combined for 84 points in the five-point win.<\/p>\n

There was a chance for the Magic (45-37) to jump into the top six of the East but the Raptors handled their business against the Nets at home and actually moved up to the No. 5 seed because Atlanta lost to Miami and fell to the No. 6 spot. Philadelphia, Orlando\u2019s matchup in the Nos. 7-8 Play-In game, also won, beating the Bucks on Sunday.<\/p>\n

With the regular season complete, the Magic now travel to Philadelphia to face the 76ers on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The winner earns the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. The loser will host the winner of the Nos. 9-10 game (Charlotte and Miami) to earn the No. 8 seed in the first round.<\/p>\n

The Sixers and Magic finished with identical records, but the 76ers won two of the three games against the Magic this season to hold the tiebreaker for the right to host the Play-In contest: 136-124 at home last October and 103-91 in Orlando on Jan. 9. The Magic won 144-103 on Nov. 25 at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the site of Wednesday\u2019s matchup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the opportunity right now and that\u2019s all we can do,\u201d Mosley said about the Play-In game. \u201cWe can\u2019t control what happened in this game tonight. This one is done. So, you\u2019ve got to make sure you focus your time, attention and energy all on the Philadelphia 76ers right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third-quarter swing<\/p>\n

The Magic led the Celtics 61-52 at the half, but never closed the door on a potential comeback from Boston.<\/p>\n

Making mistakes on both ends of the floor, Orlando allowed the Celtics to catch fire from distance in the third quarter and take control of the contest.<\/p>\n

Boston shot 9-of-16 from 3-point range in the third period and ultimately outscored the Magic 42-20 in the quarter. On the other end, the Magic shot 1-for-7 from distance as Boston built a 94-81 lead entering the fourth.<\/p>\n

\"BOSTON,Boston Celtics center Luka Garza is tripped up by Orlando Magic forward Jamal Cain right, during the second half against the Orlando Magic at the TD Garden on Sunday, April 12, 2026. (CJ Gunther\/Boston Herald)
\nDesmond Bane\u2019s off night<\/p>\n

Desmond Bane became one of only four players in the NBA to play and start in all 82 games this season. He is the first Orlando player since Dwight Howard in 2009-10 to start in all 82 games, the team said.<\/p>\n

After scoring a quick four points and recording an assist in the first six minutes of the game, Bane sat until the 11:17 mark of the fourth quarter. The Celtics led by 11 points. Bane played 11 more minutes and ended 3-for-8 from the floor with 8 points. His 3-pointer with two minutes left brought Orlando within four points.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause he\u2019s played all 82, that\u2019s a big portion of us being able to be on the backend and make sure we take care of bodies,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cWe talk about the minutes with Anthony Black, with Franz Wagner, that\u2019s a big part of it with Des and him playing all 82 games, being able to have his body right for the last stretch as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the starters<\/p>\n

Franz Wagner knocked down his first pair of 3-pointers and was one of two Magic players to post 14 points in the first half. The other was Suggs, who shot 4 for 9 from distance before the break.<\/p>\n

Paolo Banchero\u2019s night was a bit of a mixed bag. Although he neared a first-half triple-double with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists, the Magic forward shot 4-for-11 from the field and recorded two turnovers.<\/p>\n

Banchero (23 points), Wagner (20 points) and Suggs (23) totaled 66 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re disappointed,\u201d Banchero said about the mood in the locker room after the loss. \u201cBut you\u2019ve gotta move on fast to get ready to go to Philadelphia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendell Carter Jr. picked up three fouls in 12 first-half minutes and finished with just 3 points in 31 minutes.<\/p>\n

Free points<\/p>\n

Mosley often discusses the importance of defending without fouling, but the Magic did not heed that strategy Sunday.<\/p>\n

Unlike Orlando, which entered leading the league in free-throw attempts per night (27.4), the Celtics entered averaging the fewest free throws per night (18.7).<\/p>\n

Boston shot 17-for-17 from the free throw line in the first half and finished 22-for-22.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Magic shot 24-for-30. They missed six free throws in a five-point loss.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 For the second time in the last three years, the Magic had to wait until the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,76046,110],"class_list":["post-229335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}