ORLANDO — Midway through the fourth quarter, the Celtics had completely erased a 16-point deficit to take a 1-point lead.
Only six more solid minutes, and the Celtics could improve to 5-5, with an impressive
win over the Orlando Magic under their belt.
Then came a sequence of game-shifting plays.
After securing a loose ball, Josh Minott inadvatertantly passed to Anthony Black under the Magic basket. Black quickly laid it in, and Orlando regained the lead.
Jaylen Brown, who finished with 32 points and was on fire for much of the night, missed his next three shots. Neemias Queta rushed a layup, and followed that miss with a frustration transition take foul that preceded a Desmond Bane three-pointer.
A Wendell Carter Jr. top-of-the-key three felt like the final dagger; in three minutes time, a 1-point Celtics lead had turned into a 9-point deficit.
As such, despite holding steady with the Magic on the glass (both teams grabbed 44 boards) and turnovers (the Boston forced one more than the Orlando), the Celtics fell, 123-110.
Joe Mazzulla didn’t deny the significance of those fourth quarter plays postgame, but noted he liked the Celtics’ effort.
“Every game’s the same,” Mazzulla said. “It always comes down to pockets of that. If it’s a blowout, they don’t they get talked over, and we talk about other stuff. In this situation, those get magnified, right? And I think that’s the growth that we just have to continue to fight for as a team — we brought the effort and the physicality, we gotta bring the execution. And, in a game of swings like that, where it’s close throughout most of it, those play the matter, and they’re magnified, and we just gotta get better.”
Payton Pritchard, who poured in a season-high 27 points, echoed that sentiment.
“I’m proud of how we fought back, stayed in it, because this is a team that kind of punks us on the boards,” Pritchard said. “It didn’t feel like we got out-physicaled.”
The Celtics aren’t used to looking for silver linings in losses. As head coach, Mazzulla has never led the team to fewer than 57 wins. Everyone has denied the notion of a gap year, and Jaylen Brown — who has never missed the playoffs in his 9-year NBA career — said his goal is for the Celtics to make the NBA Finals.
Still, though Brown expressed frustration with the officiating after Friday’s loss, he acknowledged there’s been reason for encouragement.
“I think we’re growing,” Brown said. “I think we’re getting better. I’m like what I’m seeing from certain guys, and that’s the most important thing, continuing to get better. We’re not an organization or fanbase that makes excuses, especially games that we feel like we can win, but it’s a part of the learning curve and process. It’s still early in the season, and we got to continue to fight — I’m gonna continue to fight, continue to help my teammates get better.”
On opening night, the Celtics lost at the buzzer after Pritchard missed two game-winner attempts. On Monday against the Utah Jazz, they lost in similar heartbreaking fashion when Jusuf Nurkik hit a game-winner putback.
“You could look at the season and it could be completely different if we won two games that were supposed to — Opening Night and against Utah, and then we’re sitting, what 6-4?” Pritchard said. “A lot of people would be looking at it a lot different. But it’s the first 10 games. Now, we got another set of another 10 games. Can we make progress each 10 games and keep getting better and better? That’s the outlook we’re looking at.”
