BOSTON – After a week off with some quarantined players and others simply limited in the work they could do under the NBA Health and Safety Protocols, the Celtics looked more rested than rusty.
Boston built its lead from start to finish and rolled over the Orlando Magic, 124-97, for its fifth consecutive victory Friday at TD Garden.
Even without Jayson Tatum, the Celtics had six players scored in double digits, while top-down players in the squad increased their attack.
Jaylen Brown was not eliminated until Friday afternoon, but led Boston with 21 points and eight assists.
Payton Pritchard realized he would have more to lose than most with the layoff, as the rookie was growing up before the team was closed for three games. But he continued where he left off and scored four points out of 3 on the way to 16 points.
The Celtics led 28 in the fourth period, allowing Brad Stevens to use his 12 healthy players and rest some of those who were inactive.
Boston (8-3) stays at home and will host the New York Knicks for the first time this season, Sunday at 1 pm
With Tatum out and several Celtics coming out of quarantine, Stevens debuted a different lineup adding Grant Williams and Jeff Teague to the five starters with Marcus Smart, Brown and Tristan Thompson. That meant Daniel Theis’s first time coming off the bench in the first game of the 2019-20 season.
This formation worked, but most of them did against the overcome Magic. Teague seemed to benefit most from the start. He scored the Celtics’ first five points, took an early charge and scored 10 points in the first half. He finished with 17 points, his biggest since 19 on his opening night.
After the Celtics reached a 34-28 lead in the first quarter, Magic scored the first seven points of the second to pull ahead briefly by 35-34, but Pritchard buried a 3 point lead to start a 10-1 run. that put Boston back in control. The advantage came to 14 before Orlando reduced to 60-48 in the interval.
As in the second quarter, Magic regained space to start the third before Boston further expanded its lead at the end. Orlando got six points at 74-68, but Brown pulled up on the track with a ball possession and found Pritchard for a 3-point basket the next to start a 9-0 run that extinguished the last coals of suspense.
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