The Orlando Magic earned the East's No. 7 seed in the playoffs by throttling the Atlanta Hawks' three-point shooting on Tuesday night. Now their stellar three-point defense faces its biggest test in the first round.
Orlando defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 120-95, in a game where they held the Hawks to 4-for-21 shooting on three-pointers. That matches what they did in the regular season, where the Magic gave up only 11.4 three-pointers per game, the fewest in the NBA this season. Orlando held opponents to 31.8% shooting from deep, also the league's best mark.
That sets up an intriguing battle of strength vs. strength with the Celtics, who made the most three-pointers in the NBA with 17.8 triples per game. They were only 10th in the NBA with a 36.8% mark, but their incredible volume of 48.2 three-pointers per fame overwhelmed defenses.
If Orlando can slow down the Celtics' three-point attack, they have obvious counters with the driving ability of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. But Orlando looks to have the ability to make Boston uncomfortable and move out of its triple-heavy game.
Can the Magic score enough to keep up with the Celtics? That's a big question, since Orlando also made the fewest three-pointers in the NBA and scored the third-fewest points. It'll need a repeat of Tuesday's bench effort, where it got four threes from Cole Anthony and three from Anthony Black — though it'll need Paolo Banchero or Franz Wagner to improve its ice-cold outside shooting.
Whether you love three-point shooting or hate three-point shooting, the Magic-Celtics series should be a treat. It really just depends who has the ball.
