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BOSTON — The Magic missed perhaps their best chance to steal a game on the road in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Celtics on Wednesday night.
That’s because Boston was without All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum (right wrist bone bruise) when the East foes met for Game 2 at TD Garden.
Still, no Tatum, no problem for the defending champions.
Behind a combined 70 points from Jaylen Brown (36), center Kristaps Porzingis (20) and NBA Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard (14), the Celtics took a 2-0 lead with a 109-100 victory in front of a national TV audience on TNT and a packed home arena.
Although Paolo Banchero (32) and Franz Wagner (25) totaled 57 points, Jamahl Mosley’s squad led only in the first quarter and trailed by as many as 15 during their sixth straight road playoff loss, dating to last year’s first-round loss to with Cleveland.
“A lot of ups and downs,” Mosley said about the loss. “A lot of adversity that we fought through which I liked for what our guys did in that situation. Regardless of the circumstances, they continued to fight.”
Down 2-0 for a second straight first round, the Magic return to Kia Center for Game 3 against the Celtics on Friday.
What went wrong
With Tatum out, Boston turned to its other All-NBA forward to step up on offense.
Brown scored 12 of his 14 first-half points in the opening quarter when Orlando switched smaller defenders such as guards Cory Joseph and Cole Anthony onto him.
What really hurt the Magic, however, was the fact that the Celtics took their largest lead of the first half (11 points) when Brown was actually on the bench.
Porzingis, who was limited to 5 points in Game 1, had 15 by the halfway mark of Game 2 before he totaled 20 with 10 rebounds.
Brown caught fire later in the third quarter when he hit a pair of 3-pointers coming out of the half to shoot 5 of 7 from beyond the arc for the night.
“They came out of the locker room in the third quarter, went on a run and we had trouble getting back the rest of the game,” Banchero said.
Although Orlando held Boston to 12 of 37 (32.4%) shooting from distance, the Magic themselves shot just 7 of 29 (24.1%).
The Celtics, however, were able to take advantage of their extra opportunities when they grabbed 13 offensive rebounds that turned into 20 second-chance points.
“A team this good, you can’t give them second-chance opportunities,” Wagner said.
What went right
Banchero and Wagner had no choice but to carry Orlando’s offense again.
Although the pair shot a combined 3 of 13 from distance, they totaled 38 points on 19 of 32 shooting inside the line (59%).
Despite picking up 2 fouls in the first quarter and playing the majority of the fourth with 4, Banchero was able to find his spots on the floor and reach 30-plus points for the second time this series and fifth time in his nine playoff appearances.
“He’s a winner,” Mosley said. “He’s doing whatever he can for this team in order to put us in the position to be successful and win games.”
Wagner powered a 7-0 run in the second quarter after Boston took a double-digit lead early in the frame. But after shooting 1 of 6 from 3 in Game 1, he finished 1 of 7 Wednesday.
Wendell Carter Jr. became the first Magic player in the first two games other than Banchero and Wagner to reach double figures. Physical around the rim, he totaled 16 points with 8 rebounds.
“We played with a lot of heart, a lot of character,” Wagner said. “They made a bunch of runs throughout the game. We never gave up, we played real physical and played with great effort all evening.”
Free points
Whether they agreed with the calls or not, the Magic sent the Celtics to the foul line throughout the night.
Orlando took as many free throws in the first half as Boston did the first quarter (10).
The Celtics ended the night 25 of 33 at the charity stripe, well above their league-low average of 19.1 attempts during the regular season.
Although the Magic eventually got their way to the line, they didn’t take advantage. Orlando finished 15 of 24 (62.5%) there.
“I’m not the one to complain about any of it, but there’s a reality that all of our starters had two fouls at one point, quickly,” Mosley said. “And there was a time where it was 16-2 in the free throw count.
“That’s part of how the game goes,” he added. “Now, when we get to the free throw line, we’ve got to knock them down too. Can’t miss 9 in a 9-point game.”
Caldwell-Pope’s warm welcome
The veteran guard was booed from the moment he was introduced to when he picked up his first foul and nearly every chance he had the ball.
The disdain for Caldwell-Pope from Boston fans stems from Game 1 when he fouled Tatum early in the fourth quarter. Tatum fell awkwardly and suffered a bone bruise in the right wrist of his shooting hand that forced him to miss Game 2.
Center Al Horford, who called out Caldwell-Pope after Tuesday’s practice for “something extra” on his foul on Tatum, again had words for the Magic guard in-game when the two got tangled up near half-court in the second quarter Wednesday.
Caldwell-Pope didn’t take a shot in the first quarter, missed all 6 of his 3-point attempts and was held to just 3 points in 35 minutes.
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
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