Celtics fade in final minutes in NBA Cup loss to Magic

ORLANDO A sluggish start and sloppy finish doomed the Celtics on Friday night in - loss to the Magic Jaylen Brown scored a game-high points to lead Boston but he finished as a game-worst minus- in his minutes Payton Pritchard added points on -of- shooting Derrick White tallied points and assists and Anfernee Simons bounced back from an ugly first quarter to number points in the fourth including a go-ahead -pointer with remaining The Magic bested by Boston in a five-game opening-round playoff series last spring controlled play from that point toward rebuilding a double-digit lead with just under two minutes to play And because this was an NBA Cup match with a anticipated point-differential tiebreaker looming at the end of group play Orlando continued to attack until the final buzzer scoring an extra eight points in the last seconds The loss dropped the Celtics to - on the season and - in NBA Cup group play They ll face the Magic again in a non-Cup championship Sunday at the Kia Center The Celtics starting five intact for the seventh consecutive competition came in with a sterling defensive rating the second-best of any NBA grouping that had logged at least minutes together But that group struggled to contain the Magic in the early going After -pointers by Josh Minott and Pritchard gave Boston a quick - lead Orlando proceeded to sum on seven straight possessions against the Celtics starters Then after a Joe Mazzulla and a round of C s substitutions the Magic got back-to-back buckets off offensive rebounds then two makes off steals by Desmond Bane points and Paolo Banchero points Simons was the offending party on Bane s swipe and he was beaten for an and-one dunk in transition shortly thereafter Those miscues got Boston s sixth man pulled from the floor after two minutes during which the Celtics were outscored by points He sat out the rest of the first half Orlando also hit five of its first six -pointers to power a - first-quarter run A new-look Celtics lineup featuring Pritchard Hugo Gonzalez Jordan Walsh Sam Hauser and Luka Garza five players who did not play a minute together in Boston s first nine games stopped the bleeding late in the first Walsh coming off by far his best outing of the season in Wednesday s win over Washington then remained in the championship with starters White Brown Minott and Neemias Queta as Boston opened the second quarter with a - run that cut Orlando s double-digit lead to four After rarely playing outside of garbage time before this week Walsh has made an impact with his defensive pressure in back-to-back games In this one he tallied five rebounds two offensive boards one steal and one block before halftime Gonzalez also was evolving on the offensive glass in his opening shift Brown Pritchard and White combined to total of the Celtics second-quarter points The Magic maintained a - lead at half but Boston pulled even early in the third after Minott drew a foul on an aggressive crash and Pritchard picked Bane s pocket and canned a three Then Brown took over for Boston Midrange jumper Midrange jumper Drive Drive again Back to the midrange He made seven consecutive field goals to count straight Celtics points reaching the -point mark before the end of the third quarter Brown became just the fourth member in Celtics history to figure -plus points in six of the first games of a season joining Sam Jones John Havlicek and Jayson Tatum in that special club After Brown s scoring binge kept the Celtics competitive a redemptive effort from Simons gave them their first lead since the opening minutes He hit three straight shots including a pair of -pointers to put Boston ahead - with remaining Orlando controlled the home stretch however by capitalizing on a string of Celtics errors Chief among them two Minott giveaways an open layup that Queta couldn t convert followed by a transition take foul in the backcourt and a Pritchard turnover that led to a fast-break and-one finish by Carter The latter put the Magic ahead - with to play The Celtics committed fourth-quarter fouls including one drawn charge attempt by White that was overturned after a prosperous Orlando challenge The Magic shot free throws in the competition to Boston s with Brown highly effective at drawing contact on drives and pull-ups this season getting to the line just twice Other observations Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley noted pregame that there was still a little bit of tension between the teams after their brawl of a first-round playoff series last spring but this rematch was light on extracurriculars There were no flagrant or technical fouls on either side though Gonzalez did catch Franz Wagner points in the face on one rebound attempt The Celtics will play their final two NBA Cup group play games later this month at TD Garden The Brooklyn Nets will visit on Friday Nov followed by the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday Nov