Celtics 112, Magic 96: Boston hit a lot of threes

On Friday, the Magic nearly broke their franchise record for threes in a game. On Sunday, the Magic nearly allowed their opponent to break their franchise record for threes in a game.

The Magic, whose 21 threes in a win over the Nets on Friday was two shy of the franchise record, allowed the Celtics to hit 23 threes, one shy of Boston’s franchise record, en route to a 112-96 loss.

Early on, it was actually the Magic who picked up right where they left off on Friday, going 6-for-11 in the first quarter against the Celtics. A three by Aaron Gordon started an early 7-0 run that gave Orlando a 14-11 lead.

Nikola Vucevic hit 2 of 3 attempts in the first, finishing the quarter with 10 points and 7 rebounds. Even James Ennis, playing for the first time since February 27, got in on the action by scoring eight quick points off the bench.

The Magic made 6 of 11 attempts from deep in the quarter, shooting 43.5 percent overall for a 31-27 lead.

Jayson Tatum scored eight of the Celtics first 11 points and finished the first with 11 points, making all three of his attempts from deep. Jaylen Brown added eight points, knocking down a pair of threes, as the Celtics kept pace with the Magic from deep by making 6 of 13 attempts.

The Celtics continued their efficient outside shooting in the second, going 5-for-12, while the Magic missed all five of their attempts from deep in the quarter and would be limited to just 17 points.

A pair of Tatum threes in the final minute pushed the Celtics lead to double digits and they went j to the break up 56-48. Tatum had 19 points at the half, shooting 5-for-7 from three. Brown added 14 points and made 4 of his 7 three-point attempts as the two led the Celtics to 44 percent shooting from deep in the half (11-for-25).

Daniel Theis hit a three that capped a 10-0 Celtics run early in the third to increase their lead to 66-49.

Gordon then followed with what was the Magic’s first three since the first quarter with 8:46 left in the third.

The Celtics would continuing knocking down outside shots as their lead reached as many as 22 in the third.

The Magic, trailing by 16 after the third, opened the fourth on a 10-2 run that pulled them within 91-83 with 9:27 to go.

The Celtics would go back up by 15 after Brown drained yet another three and then, off a missed Fournier three, Tatum beat the Magic defense down court for the easy dunk to make it 100-85.

Only question from there was whether or not the Celtics would break their three-point record, but they fell one short, going 23-for-54 (42.6%). That was despite the best effort of Brown, who hit a career-high 10 threes on 18 attempts to finish with 34 point. Tatum added 23 points, going 5-for-8 from deep.

It was the first time the Celtics held an opponent under 100 points since Feb. 16.

Vucevic had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Magic. Ennis finished with a season-high 18 points in 21 minutes. Gordon and Fournier both struggled from the field after huge nights against the Nets on Friday. Fournier had 16 points on 6-for-19 shooting and Gordon had 12 points on 3-for-13 shooting as the Magic shot just 38.1 percent, including 11-for-34 from three.

The Magic return home for a back-to-back against the Nuggets and Suns, the final two games before the trade deadline.