BOSTON — For the second time in the last three years, the Magic had to wait until the final day of the NBA regular season to find out where they’d be headed for the postseason.
Needing a win in Boston to secure at least homecourt advantage in the Play-In Tournament as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, Orlando dropped the ball and fell 113-108 at TD Garden on Sunday night against a Celtics squad that only had eight players available.
The result means the Magic drop to No. 8 in the Eastern Conference and will travel to No. 7 Philadelphia for the Play-In Tournament.
“You’ve got to give them a ton of credit,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said about the Celtics. “Those eight players played hard. They played their hearts out, they played together, they moved it, they shared it and they made a ton of shots.
“Some of that was given to them by us,” he added. “We turned that ball over 19 times for 23 points. That’s part of it. Again, they had a ton of shotmaking going on and us turning it over was part of that.”
Trailing the Celtics by 13 points entering the fourth quarter, the Magic tied the game at 108-108 with 35.5 seconds left when Jalen Suggs sunk his seventh 3-pointer of the night. Luka Garza responded with a triple of his own to put Boston back in front by three with 31.6 seconds left in the game.
Garza’s 3-pointer ended up as the go-ahead shot when free throws from Jordan Walsh with 7.9 seconds remaining put Boston ahead by five points.
With the No. 2 seed already locked up, the Celtics (56-26) sat out regulars Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Neemias Queta, Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard, Hugo Gonzalez and former Magic center Nikola Vucevic due to various injuries. In Tatum’s case, it was to give the superstar additional rest after his return from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Instead, it was Baylor Scheierman (30 points), Ron Harper Jr. (27) and Garza (27) who combined for 84 points in the five-point win.
There was a chance for the Magic (45-37) to jump into the top six of the East but the Raptors handled their business against the Nets at home and actually moved up to the No. 5 seed because Atlanta lost to Miami and fell to the No. 6 spot. Philadelphia, Orlando’s matchup in the Nos. 7-8 Play-In game, also won, beating the Bucks on Sunday.
With the regular season complete, the Magic now travel to Philadelphia to face the 76ers on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The winner earns the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. The loser will host the winner of the Nos. 9-10 game (Charlotte and Miami) to earn the No. 8 seed in the first round.
The Sixers and Magic finished with identical records, but the 76ers won two of the three games against the Magic this season to hold the tiebreaker for the right to host the Play-In contest: 136-124 at home last October and 103-91 in Orlando on Jan. 9. The Magic won 144-103 on Nov. 25 at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the site of Wednesday’s matchup.
“This is the opportunity right now and that’s all we can do,” Mosley said about the Play-In game. “We can’t control what happened in this game tonight. This one is done. So, you’ve got to make sure you focus your time, attention and energy all on the Philadelphia 76ers right now.”
Third-quarter swing
The Magic led the Celtics 61-52 at the half, but never closed the door on a potential comeback from Boston.
Making mistakes on both ends of the floor, Orlando allowed the Celtics to catch fire from distance in the third quarter and take control of the contest.
Boston shot 9-of-16 from 3-point range in the third period and ultimately outscored the Magic 42-20 in the quarter. On the other end, the Magic shot 1-for-7 from distance as Boston built a 94-81 lead entering the fourth.
Desmond Bane’s off night
Desmond Bane became one of only four players in the NBA to play and start in all 82 games this season. He is the first Orlando player since Dwight Howard in 2009-10 to start in all 82 games, the team said.
After scoring a quick four points and recording an assist in the first six minutes of the game, Bane sat until the 11:17 mark of the fourth quarter. The Celtics led by 11 points. Bane played 11 more minutes and ended 3-for-8 from the floor with 8 points. His 3-pointer with two minutes left brought Orlando within four points.
“Because he’s played all 82, that’s a big portion of us being able to be on the backend and make sure we take care of bodies,” Mosley said. “We talk about the minutes with Anthony Black, with Franz Wagner, that’s a big part of it with Des and him playing all 82 games, being able to have his body right for the last stretch as well.”
The rest of the starters
Franz Wagner knocked down his first pair of 3-pointers and was one of two Magic players to post 14 points in the first half. The other was Suggs, who shot 4 for 9 from distance before the break.
Paolo Banchero’s night was a bit of a mixed bag. Although he neared a first-half triple-double with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists, the Magic forward shot 4-for-11 from the field and recorded two turnovers.
Banchero (23 points), Wagner (20 points) and Suggs (23) totaled 66 points.
“We’re disappointed,” Banchero said about the mood in the locker room after the loss. “But you’ve gotta move on fast to get ready to go to Philadelphia.”
Wendell Carter Jr. picked up three fouls in 12 first-half minutes and finished with just 3 points in 31 minutes.
Free points
Mosley often discusses the importance of defending without fouling, but the Magic did not heed that strategy Sunday.
Unlike Orlando, which entered leading the league in free-throw attempts per night (27.4), the Celtics entered averaging the fewest free throws per night (18.7).
Boston shot 17-for-17 from the free throw line in the first half and finished 22-for-22.
Meanwhile, the Magic shot 24-for-30. They missed six free throws in a five-point loss.
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
