It will be Eastern Conference NBA clash of the titans on Saturday when the Boston Celtics face up to host the Orlando Magic at the TD Garden.
A return to winner’s bay will be the cardinal aim for the two sides in Massachusetts this weekend after claiming defeat in their last games.
Thursday’s match at the Scotiabank Arena saw the defending champions Boston Celtics suffer a humbling 110-97 loss to what will be a Toronto Raptors side that is set to be picking in the lottery come June.
Leading by four points at the end of the first quarter, the Joe Mazzulla’s team would have completed the season-series sweep against the Raptors for the eleventh consecutive time, however, the second quarter alone saw the team being outplayed by that margin before being handed a 13-point defeat.
Of course, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown probably had quiet games at the scoring line with just 16 and 10 respectively, Payton Pritchard aim for Sixth Man of the Year again as he contributed 20 points off the pine with 7-11 shooting.
Currently, 6 games behind the league leaders – Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics are left with a mammoth task of defending their top performers of the previous season though they go into the mid-season this term.
It turned out that, posting a 4-3 record across their seven matches in 2025, the Celtics are yet to fully recover from a festive hangover that saw them lose four of their final seven games last year, off the back of five wins in six prior.
Back at their own placing court, where they have alternated between scorching and tepid in recent times after rushing out the gates, Saturday’s host will re-eager aiming to right the ship in the first of two straight clashes with teams in the thick of the playoff race.
Both sides of the floor were lacking for Jamahl Mosley's team, who allowed their most points in a game since November (122) and scored one of their fewest points in a game this season (93).
Even though his team had a difficult game, Paolo Banchero maintained his impressive comeback from an oblique injury by scoring a team-high 22 points, albeit on a somewhat lackluster 8–20 shooting effort from the field.
The Magic are still in fifth place in the Eastern Conference rankings, but with a 2-4 record in their previous six games, they have seen their lead over the teams below them drastically erode in recent weeks.
Saturday's visitors still have the league's best defense (103.2 points allowed per game); they simply need to figure out how to boost their offensive production (104.8 points per game), which is now the lowest in the NBA.
As of right now, there are no suspension or injury issues for the Boston Celtics going into this weekend's game.
Both Moritz and Franz Wagner are out for the Orlando Magic; the latter is out for the remainder of the season because of a ruptured ACL, while the former is out with an oblique injury.
Guards Gary Harris and Jalen Suggs are major doubts to play here because they missed the Bucks' loss the last time out due to hamstring and back issues, respectively.
Due to a conclusion protocol, Goga Bitadze, 25, was also unable to play in the previously stated game; nevertheless, the Georgian should be able to travel to Boston.
