The Celtics Bench Didn't Just Beat A Desperate Orlando Magic Team, They Also Threw A Wrench In The Entire Eastern Conference Playoff Picture
Winslow Townson. Getty Images.On the final day of the season, the Celts and Magic entered Game 82 in very different places. The Celts seeding was locked, so naturally they decided to sit Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta and Nikola Vucevic (with Hugo also out with a foot sprain). Essentially all their main guys and the majority of their rotation. There was nothing to play for, the injury risk isn't worth it, and honestly, we all wanted to see the Maine Celtics have their shot anyway.
The Magic were in a very different position. They needed this win. They played all their guys in an effort to avoid falling into the Play In and instead finish top 6. All they needed to do was beat the G-League Celtics.
What we got, was a perfect microcosm of what both teams actually are.
I know the idea of a franchise's culture can sound corny, but it's 1000000% a real thing. What this game showed us was both ends of the spectrum. On one side, a team with a real winning culture and a real identity who understand what the standard of winning is, and on the other side, you have the Magic. No identity, no culture, nothing.
There's a reason the bench Celtics played nearly the exact same way as the regular rotation Celtics, because this development is consistent from top to bottom in the organization. What they do in Maine is connected to what they do in Boston. It's why we've seen so many success stories of guys who have started and played in Maine are now having success with the big club, whether it's Baylor Scheierman, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta, Jordan Walsh etc.
During the year, this phenomenon was dubbed Celtics University, and that's exactly what it is.
“I just feel like we know our group. We know our capabilities, and, you know, some guys just need a chance. I feel like we all got a chance tonight and we capitalized great. But we definitely didn't go into this game thinking this is like David vs. Goliath, thinking we're like ultimate underdogs. We came into the game expecting to compete and expecting to win.”
How many other teams in the league can take their deep bench and G-League players and throw them out against a playoff caliber opponent who desperately needs the win and not skip a beat? My guess is not many.
The reason this win was significant was not just because of what it did for the Celts potential playoff path (gives them PHI/ORL), but also what it meant for the rest of the Eastern Conference playoffs. How do you think the Knicks feel right now? Going from potentially facing the Raptors, who've they've won like 13 straight against to now being forced to play the Hawks, who have been one of the better teams in the entire league in 2026. Even if you believe the Knicks win that series, that's still a tougher path.
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I'd also say the Cavs are now pretty happy how things worked out, as are the Sixers, since now they get to host their Play In game as opposed to needing to win on the road without Embiid.
So while Game 82 in most cases is rather insignificant and mostly a formality, that is NOT the case when it comes to Celtics/Magic. It was not only wildly entertaining, but it also threw a wrench in the East playoff seeding, which altered playoff paths. Time will tell how significant those changes end up being, but you could argue that the Celts not only made their own life easier, they also made things a little tougher for their opposition.
This was also a nice reminder that any time you hear someone say the NBA's regular season doesn't matter, they are full of shit. Every single game matters from October to April. Look at how close the seeding was in both conferences!
That random Wednesday game in January? It matters. Game 82 on the literal final day of the season? It matters.
You know who knows and embraces that? The Boston Celtics. 56 wins and a +7.7 scoring differential still doesn't feel real, yet it happened. They've had a lot of impressive and exciting wins over those 56, but there's no denying that last night is certainly up there.
Let's dive in.
The Good
- Normally, I would start this off with one particular player, but on a night like this, that doesn't feel right. It's impossible for me to pick between Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr, and Lukla Garza. The good news is I make the rules around here, so we're beginning with all three
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I've seen a lot of ridiculous shit in my nearly 4 decades watching this basketball team, and this is certainly up there. It'd be one thing if this trio all had career highs against an opponent who was also playing their G-League players. But for it to come against a playoff team who was desperately trying to win? That makes it a million times more impressive to me.
With Baylor, he's someone who has shown great development all year and at this point is just flat out good. I'd say the selection of Baylor over Filipowski was something a lot of Celts fans killed Brad Stevens for, but like always we came to learn that fans are morons and Brad Stevens is a Basketball God. While some of the bombs Baylor made were a little surprising, his overall performance wasn't, at least to me. What I did like about his performance was that it gave us a look at two areas I feel like Baylor has really developed this season.
First, was his ability to get to the line in this game. Baylor isn't the quickest, so he has to be creative and savvy when it comes to his drives. I really liked his decel move and how patient he was once he got into the paint, finding ways to draw fouls and get to the line. A team best 8-8 from the FT line, that was really noticeable.
Then, there's the shooting. Not just C&S threes, but threes off the bounce. Threes off P&R. 35 footers. You name it, Baylor brought it. We already know Baylor can defend his ass off and will hit the glass with great energy, but the shooting has always been the final piece. If that jumper can become reliable, it changes pretty much everything about his ceiling as a player. If he's not only able to get his shot off but is now making those shots, we have something very serious on our hands.
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With Ron Harper Jr, he's the latest success story from Brad Stevens' basketball brain. That is a real NBA player folks who is clearly the next great Celts wing to go through their developmental program. We know he can shoot, so what really stood out to me was how effective RHJ was operating out of the P&R. There weren't really any ball handlers out there which required RHJ to do most of the heavy lifting, and it was surprising just how comfortable he looked against a physical Magic defense. His ability to get to the rim, using his wingspan to both finish on one end and then cause chaos on the other, that looked like an NBA rotation wing to me.
With Garzilla, I mean what else is there to say? He's incredible. I'm sorry, but 27/12 on 10-18 (3-6), including the game winning 3PM?!?!?!?!?!
That was one of the more ridiculous shots I've ever seen, but you know what? I look at it as the Basketball Gods rewarding a player who plays the right way. Nobody deserved to make that shot more than Luka Garza. He never cheats the game, never complains, plays the hardest of any player on the court whenever he's in the game, and to put it frankly, he ate the Magic alive. Total and complete domination in every facet of the game. When the Celts needed a bucket, he got it. When they needed rebounds, he was there. When it came time to go to the FT line, Garza never missed.
As we enter the playoffs, I would have no problem with any of these three players getting real minutes, which is pretty insane but also a testiment to their growth as players during the regular season. Just like when we were heading into the year with a bunch of unknowns, the same will be true for the playoffs. Guys who have zero playoff experience are going to have to come through, and if last night was a quasi-playoff game against a team you may see who was trying to win? That makes me feel a little bit better about that unknown.
- I think we can all stop trying to deny that Joe Mazzulla is the COTY right? He's the best basketball coach on the planet, sorry if this offends. I'm not sure what else people need to see exactly? No coach has more regular season wins, no coach has more playoff wins, he has a title, he just won 56 games despite a completely different roster filled with unproven players, he's top 5 in offense and defense, and last night he beat a playoff team with his G-League players and did so rather convincingly.
Other guys may have had great seasons, and they deserve credit no doubt. But nobody did it like Joe Mazzulla in 2025-26.
Just look at what he has created in his 4 years. From a culture and mentality standpoint and a production standpoint, it literally does not get better. The fact that 56 wins is the worst season he's ever had since taking over the Celtics is outrageous, especially when you remember how hard it was for this franchise to win 56 games for nearly 30+ years
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- John Tonje, I see your 13/4 in your 29 minutes with 3 3PM.
Listen, back up guard minutes are available on this team if you ask me, so this is something to monitor. I hope he's able to stay on the roster and is part of their group that plays in Vegas, because there could be something there. I liked his energy, I liked his size and the shooting is obviously a needed skill as well. We'll see where Brad goes in the Draft, but I have ball handlers on my list for next season, so why can't that be Tonje? He's in the system, and we are seeing what happens when guys are developed in Celtics University. I remain intrigued.
- 19 of 50 from deep. God I love Mazzulla Ball. It has legimately changed my life.
- The most important part of this game? Everyone walked away injury free. We didn't have to worry about any of the main guys getting hurt since they all sat, and the bench rotation guys we may see in the playoffs (Baylor, Walsh, Garza, RHJ) all walked away clean. That may seem small, but it's always a back of the mind concern once you get to Game 82 and the result doesn't really matter. What does matter, is staying healthy and the Celts successfully navigated the final few weeks of the season and now enter the postseason the healthiest they've been in years. Buckle up.
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- A total of 22-22 from the FT line. That might not matter to most, but it sure as shit matters to me.
The Bad
- Am I crazy or does Danalo Banton always play so much better as a non-Celtic than he does as a Celtic? It's not a big deal or anything considering he's the 15th guy on the roster, but I always find this interesting. You tuned into a Blazers game, and he's throwing up 30 points left and right, yet as a Celtic I don't think I've seen him hit a single jumper. It's bizarre. He also finished with 6 TOs which wasn't great, but he did have 4 blocks and 7 assists, so it wasn't like he was awful. I just can't figure out how all of his buckets evaporate the second he becomes a Celtic, yet he can get buckets for other teams.
- I'd say that committing 17 TOs and allowing 40 fast break points was a little much. I can't remember a time the Celts allowed 40 points on the break, so that wasn't great. They really should have blown the Magic out by 20+ if not for their self inflicted wounds and slow start shooting the basketball, so as embarrassing as last night was for the Magic, in theory it should have been way worse.
- If these two teams do end up playing in the playoffs, I'd like to see a little better job at containing Jalen Suggs. I would not deploy the "dare him to beat you from deep" strategy with him. His outside shooting has really improved, he finished yesterday 7-12 from deep, and that's the type of shit that can lose you a game you have no business losing. I get the Celts play the percentages and decide to live with something, that I saw enough in this game to where I would respect Suggs as an outside shooter at this point.
- I'd like to see Jordan Walsh be a little more decisive with the ball offensively. Too many possessions you could see him overthinking with the ball as opposed to just playing. There were times where he didn't feel confident in shooting or really driving and just sort of dribbled stationary, killing the offensive flow.
I don't care about misses. I care about quick and aggressive decision making. If he's on the floor, teams are going to help off him and treat him as the weak link. When he gets the ball, he needs to make them pay for that, and to do that he needs to be quick and decisive and play with a purpose. I felt like he left some driving opportunities on the table in this game, which is easy to fix once you see it on film.
The Ugly
- In classic Celts fashion, they couldn't let us enjoy the win without stress. Only they would blow a double digit lead in the 4th quarter (27-19), and I think every single one of us knew the Desmond Bane 3PA was going in to tie the game in the final seconds because of course it was. Between the bricks and the TOs, it was your classic Celtics PTSD 4th quarter collapse. It was their lowest scoring quarter of the game paired with 8 TOs (!!!!) which is an insane number. You should lose a game in which you shoot 31/33% and have 8 TOs in a single quarter. That stinks.
At the end of the day, Garzilla bailed everyone out, but that 4th quarter was gross and caused some unnecessary stress. It would have been a major bummer to blow a game where the bench guys played this well, and pushing things to the limit like that was pretty rude if you ask me.
So now we wait. My guess is the Magic will beat the Sixers without Embiid, but who knows. Whether it's PHI/ORL it doesn't really matter to me. The Celts are still going to have to execute if they want to win and advance. The good news is that life now transitions to only being about 16 wins. From here on out, 16 wins are all that matter. Feels crazy we're already about to begin another journey up the NBA mountain, but I absolulely cannot wait.
In the end, the 2025-26 regular season was a 10 out of 10. Far surpassing even the loftiest expectations, it truly was one hell of a ride.