Facing the franchise that eliminated them from the first round of the NBA playoffs last season, the Magic didn’t need to find any extra motivation against the Celtics at Kia Center on Friday night.
And just in case they did, the matchup between the Eastern Conference foes was also a part of the group stage for the NBA Cup, the league’s in-season tournament.
The Magic leaned on the energy inside their home arena, with a sold-out 19,154 fans inside, to take down Boston 127-110. Orlando got a team-high 27 points from Franz Wagner and an overall strong shooting night from 3-point range for a season-high 17 3-pointers, or 47.