Boston Celtics vs Orlando Magic

The defending NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, kick off their 2024–25 playoff campaign this Sunday at TD Garden, hosting the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of their first-round matchup.

Boston secured the second seed in the Eastern Conference after closing out the regular season with a 93-86 win over the Charlotte Hornets. The Magic earned their spot in the playoffs with a dominant 120-95 play-in victory against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.

The Celtics enter the postseason in red-hot form, having won 19 of their last 22 games since the start of March. Under Joe Mazzulla, Boston lit it up from deep this season, breaking the league’s single-season record for three-pointers made with 1,457. That shooting prowess translated to the fifth-best effective field goal percentage in the NBA (56.1%).

That outside shooting was a decisive factor all year long—54 of Boston’s 61 wins came in games where they either matched or outshot their opponents from beyond the arc. Their sharp shooting also contributed to a +9.1 point differential, the third-best in the league.

Notably, Boston has been nearly unbeatable when jumping out to an early lead, having gone undefeated since March in games where they led after the first quarter. They dropped 33 points in the opening quarter of their regular season finale last Sunday. At home, they’ve been equally dominant, winning their last six playoff games at TD Garden, including a title-clinching 106-88 win over Dallas last year.

On the other side, Orlando enters the series fueled by strong defense and solid efficiency on offense. The Magic shot 48.4% from the field in their play-in win, but their identity this season has been built on defense. Under coach Jamahl Mosley, they allowed a league-low 105.5 points per game and led the NBA in blocks, averaging 6.0 per contest.

Boston's three-point shooting accuracy was impressive, but Orlando's defense was equally as good, allowing less three-pointers than any other NBA club this season.

Despite having won six of their previous seven away games coming into this game, the Magic were one of three Eastern Conference playoff teams with a losing road record in 2024-25 (19-22).

Orlando was poor from the free-throw line this season, making only 77.5% of their tries, and they were outscored in the fourth quarter three times this month, winning only once.

The Magic have not defeated the Celtics at TD Garden since December 2022, despite winning two of their past three meetings (95–92).