Celtics start title defense with statement win over Magic: ‘We’re

BOSTON– For the first time considering that they won the NBA championship on their home floor, the Celtics hosted a championship game at TD Garden, and the Orlando Magic spent for it in Game 1 of their first-round series.Here is how tough the math is for the Magic: Their two finest players, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, integrated for 59 points( 24-of-51 FG), outperforming Boston’s two best players, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown(33 points integrated on 14-of-36 FG), and still they were fighting an uphill battle all Easter afternoon.Advertisement Banchero and Co. played hard, as they do, even taking a

49-48 advantage into the locker room at halftime, just for the Celtics to unleash their inner defending champion in a dominant third quarter. Led by Derrick White’s 30 points, Boston functioned in the series opener with a 103-86 victory.The Celtics are too deep for the Magic. Payton Pritchard, a Sixth Man of the Year finalist, and the 4th man off Boston

‘s bench on Sunday, embodied that. He scored 11 points in his very first five minutes and 19 on 8 shots. Celtics staffers rave about the 27-year-old. On the jumbotron, the Celtics asked players about their biggest family pet peeves. Pritchard’s?”When individuals do not give a full effort.”Effort. That is the player he is.”That’s another pet, “Brown said of Pritchard.” He’s been revealing that all year with his mindset and his mindset, and it’s going to be more of that than it has to do with being competent or strategy. It’s going to be more about battling. That’s the opposite of the game that we’ve got to win. That’s the in-between. We have actually got to concentrate on that, and Payton, that’s been his mentality all season long. So when he gets in the game, it’s no various.”Advertisement It took defend the Celtics to manage these Magic

. Orlando out-rebounded Boston in the opening half, getting 10 offensive boards, and it looked for a minute like we may see the Celtics of old– the ones who do not take their challenger as seriously as they should. And after that Boston owned the second half. It mattered little to Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who spoke afterward as if his team had lost its way. “We need to be better,”Mazzulla said. “There are better shift chances there.

We can be much better at rebounding, better at boxing out. We have to own our space much better on the offensive end. At the end of the day, it’s one game, and there’s a whole litany of possessions that we need to get better on. “It took some battle from Tatum, particularly. He landed awkwardly on his shooting wrist after difficult fouls from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Wendell Carter Jr. Caldwell-Pope received a Flagrant 1 nasty. Tatum stated his wrist pulsated. Though the experience diminished, he received an X-ray after the game.”It’s clean,” said Tatum, whose wrist was neither iced nor wrapped in the game’s consequences.

“It’s good.” Advertisement It will take more fight from Brown, who rested the bone swelling in his right knee for the

final 3 games of

the routine season. The Celtics do not seem too worried about it. Nor does Brown, though he will freely go over how he has needed to change his game to the pain. Even that rather decreased with rest. Mazzulla stated not to make much of Brown’s 31 minutes; the coach was playing with a nine-man rotation.”We’re just beginning, “said Brown, whose two-handed dunk late in the third quarter was proof of his health.”Today was my first game back after a while

. It’s the playoffs, and it’s the best time of the year, so I’m thrilled. This is what I live for. I’m feeling a lot much better, moving a lot much better, so I believe that’s great.”Ad It had to be a welcome sign for the Celtics to see such quality play from Jrue Vacation, too. He played his normal stout defense and added 3 3-pointers, including one off a steal that broke the game open in the 3rd quarter. He has actually also been banged up, handling mallet finger on the pinky of his shooting hand.”That’s the Jrue I love,”Brown included.” That’s the Jrue I keep in mind competing against. Routine season is various from the playoffs. I know in some cases y’ all forget that. The intensity level is a lot various. The physicality is a lot different. Jrue loves the environment as much as I do. You can see him getting guys, blowing through screens and just making plays, and when we get that Jrue, it’s a great indication for us.”Everything was working for Boston, save for the very best of Tatum and Brown. And Kristaps Porziņģis, too. The 7-foot-2 center( 5 points on 1-of-8 FG)was hardly his generally impactful self. They are most likely coming in this series, too– and beyond– which is a bad sign for the Magic, and for the rest of the NBA.