Jaylen Brown hit a career-high 10 3-pointers en route to a game-high 34 points, and the Boston Celtics snapped a three-game losing skid with a 112-96 defeat of the Orlando Magic, Sunday in Boston.
All five Celtics starters made at least one 3-pointer in a 23-of-54 collective effort, and each scored in double-digits.
Jayson Tatum went 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and finished with 23 points, Kemba Walker notched 14 points, Daniel Thies recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Marcus Smart added 11 points with a game-high eight assists.
Boston complemented its balanced scoring effort from the starting rotation with a solid defensive effort. The Celtics rallied from a 31-27 deficit after the first quarter, holding the Magic to just 17 second-quarter points and 25 in the third.
Orlando finished 32 of 84 (38.1 percent) from the floor, with Aaron Gordon going 3 of 13 and Evan Fournier finished 6 of 19. Gordon finished with 12 points, 26 fewer than his season-best output in the Magic’s win over Brooklyn on Friday. Fournier finished Sunday with 16 points, 15 fewer than against the Nets.
James Ennis III was Orlando’s only double-figure-point scorer to finish with a positive plus-minus rating. He scored 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor, including 3 of 4 from behind the 3-point line.
Nikola Vucevic, who had a double-double for Orlando with team-highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds, shot 9 of 20 from the floor. Thies finished with a plus-minus rating of 27 while limiting Vucevic’s scoring opportunities on the interior.
Sunday’s defensive effort marked the Celtics’ first since Feb. 16 in which they held an opponent to fewer than 100 points, and matched their lowest yield since Jan. 30.
Orlando’s loss is its 10th in the last 11 games, and the fourth in the Magic’s last five games in which they fell short of 100 points.
–Field Level Media