Celtics hoping to extend their mastery over the Magic as they look for 4th straight win

Orlando Magic (3-4) at Boston Celtics (3-4)
Monday, November 11, 2013
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #8, Home Game #3
TV: CSNNE, FSFL, NBA-LP 758(DTV), 756(Xfinity)
Radio: 98.5 Sportshub, WBZ, WDBO
TD Garden
Referees: Ed Malloy, Mark Ayotte, Sean Corbin

Game Thread l Chat

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The Celtics and Magic meet for the second of 4 games this season. Their first meeting was just last week when the Celtics came out the winners 91-89, in spite of shooting just 35.8% for the game.

The Celtics have won 9 straight over the Magic, dating back to December 25, 2010. The Magic will be looking to avenge Friday's loss as well as to break the Celtics' winning streak over them. To do so, they will need to figure out the Celtics' defense as they held the Magic to 38.8% shooting from the field and just 20% from beyond the arc.

The Magic are 0-3 on the road while the Celtics are 1-1 at home. The Celtics are riding a 3 game win streak while the Magic have lost their last two.

Kelly Olynyk moved into the starting lineup for the Heat game and given the success of that lineup, will most likely remain there. But then again, with this team and coach, you never know.

As always, be sure to catch the CLNS Postgame show right after the game. Your broadcast crew is Sean Bakke and Calvin Chamberlain. Ty Ray will be stationed in the chatroom at CelticsBlog and manning the CLNS Radio social media outlets. As always, we will be taking your calls throughout the entire broadcast.

Probable Starting Matchups

Point Guard

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Jordan Crawford vs Jameer Nelson

Shooting Guard

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Avery Bradley vs Arron Afflalo

Small Forward

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Jeff Green vs Maurice Harkless

Power Forward

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Brandon Bass vs Jason Maxiell

Center

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Kelly Olynyk vs Nikola Vucevic

Celtics Reserves

MarShon Brooks

Jordan Crawford

Kris Humphries

Kelly Olynyk

Phil Pressey

Jared Sullinger

Courtney Lee

Phil Pressey

Keith Bogans

Gerald Wallace

Injuries

Rajon Rondo (ACL)out

Magic Reserves

Victor Oladipo

E'Twaun Moore

Andrew Nicholson

Kyle O'Quinn

Doron Lamb

Ronnie Price

Hedo Turkoglu

Injuries

Glen Davis (foot) out

Tobias Harris (ankle) out

Solomon Jones (meniscus) out

Key Matchups

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Avery Bradley vs Arron Afflalo

Afflalo is the Magic's leading scorer with 19.7 points per game. In their first meeting, he put up 23 points, scoring Orlando's last nine points, including a four-point play with 1:38 remaining. Bradley has been flourishing since moving to the two guard spot and his defense will be needed to limit Afflalo in this game.

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Kelly Olynyk vs Nikola Vucevic

Vucevic is averaging 15.7 points, 12.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. Kelly Olynyk will most likely get the start again and it will be up to him to keep Vucevic out of the paint where he can do a lot of damage if not guarded closely.

Keys to the Game

Rebound - The Magic are #1 in the league in rebounding, pulling down 47.7 per game. The Celtics are going to have to work hard to get rebounds to give themselves a chance at winning this game. They were out rebounded by just 6 rebounds in their first meeting and they have to do at least that well in this one also.

Limit Turnovers - The Celtics are tied with the Magic for 7th in the league in turnovers with 17.7 turnovers per game. In their 3 game win streak, the Celtics have limited their turnovers to 12.3 per game. It's no surprise that they started to win when they cut down on their turnovers. They must continue to take care of the ball.

Run, Run, Run - The Celtics have shown that when they run, they are capable of playing very well, and they need to run the ball up the court before the Magic's defenses can get set up. They ran pretty much the whole game against the Heat and they need to so the same in this game.

Play 48 Minutes - The Celtics finally put together a full game for 48 minutes against the Heat. It's finally coming together for them as a team and they need to continue to build on it.

X-Factors

Home and Focus

The Celtics are finally home for a 3 game home stand this week after playing 5 games in 7 nights in 5 different cities. They should get some energy from the home crowd and they need to keep their focus and not let down since they have won 3 games in a row.

Official Report

Ed Malloy

Malloy has officiated 698 regular season NBA games, 32 playoff games and four NBA Finals games, over the past 11 seasons. Prior to joining the NBA, Malloy officiated for one season in the NBA D-League, three seasons in the CBA and three seasons in the WNBA. He worked the 2002 NBA D-League Finals and the 2001 CBA Finals.

Malloy attended St. Joseph’s University before transferring to Philadelphia University, where he was a member of the basketball team and named the ECAC Player of the Year in 1993, and went on to earn a degree in Marketing. While in high school at Cardinal O’Hara, he was named the 1989 Most Outstanding Player in Philadelphia for his achievements on the basketball court.

In 2003, when Doc Rivers was with Orlando, Malloy called a technical foul on Andrew DeClercq for staring. Doc called it one of the worst calls he ever saw (boy has he seen a lot worse since then!)and he said that he felt that Malloy had been intimidated all night. Fast forward to the Celtics game in Utah 3 seasons ago when Malloy, no longer intimidated, called 2 quick technicals on Doc and ejected him. Here is Doc's version of those calls.

"I just told Ed [Malloy], please keep officiating the game," said Rivers. "That’s all I said. I thought the play before [the technical] was a clear travel in front of him. So I just said, ‘Hey Ed, it’d be nice if you’d keep officiating throughout.’ He gave me a tech. Then I said, ‘That’s the best call you’ve made all night.’ Usually, it’s nice to earn them, but [Monday's technicals were] another bad call."

Malloy was also on the crew that officiated game 1 of the Miami series in the 2010 playoffs where 5 technicals were called and Kevin Garnett was ejected. He also officiated game 1 of the Heat series in 2011. In that game, after ignoring a flagrant foul by James Jones and then a second flagrant foul by Dwyane Wade, Malloy ejected Pierce for technicals when he objected to both flagrants against him in less than a minute. Two seasons ago he called game 2 vs the Hawks in the playoffs. The Celtics shot 31 free throws in that game vs 20 for the Hawks and got the benefit of most close calls. He also called game 5 in the Philly series in which the Celtics shot 33 free throws to 16 for the Sixers and again the Celtics got the benefit of close calls.

The Celtics are 4-6 in their last 10 games with Malloy as an official. The first regular season game last season, after a loss to Brooklyn in the preseason, was the win over the Lakers at home where the Celtics shot 25 free throws to 30 for the Lakers and the officiating wasn't all that bad. The second game was the loss on the road to the Bobcats where the Celtics took 25 free throws to 30 for the Bobcats and the officiating was ok.

Another game last season was the loss at Dallas where the Mavericks took 28 free throws to 27 for the Celtics and the officiating was okay. The most recent regular season loss was to the Raptors where Toronto took 28 free throws to 13 for the Celtics and there were more than a few questionable calls against the Celtics. He can be good and he can be very very bad on any given night. He also called game 6 of the Knicks series in last season's playoffs. The Celtics took 33 free throws to 16 for the Knicks and got the benefit of a few questionable calls. The Magic are also 4-6 over their last 10 games with Malloy. He isn't necessarily influenced by the home crowd. His home W/L record is 2-2.

Mark Ayotte

Mark Ayotte completed his ninth NBA season having officiated 532 regular season games. Prior to joining the NBA, Ayotte was a WNBA official for four years and a CBA official for three years. He spent one year officiating in
the NBA D-League. Ayotte has 12 years of collegiate officiating experience, having worked in the Pac-10, Big Sky and West Coast conferences. He officiated in the Pac-10 Conference Tournament and the Big Sky Conference Tournament, including the finals. Ayotte also was an official for the preseason and postseason NIT.

He has 10 years of high school officiating experience in the state of Arizona. Prior to becoming a professional basketball referee, Ayotte worked as a Systems Design and Test Engineer with AG Communication Systems.
When not on the hardwood, Ayotte enjoys spending time with his fellow Yoopers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Celtics are 3-7 over their last 10 games with Ayotte. Last season, he called a win over the Nets in the preseason and a loss at Detroit and the officiating was ok in both. He also called the loss to the Lakers in LA where they took 31 free throws to 20 for the Celtics and most of the questionable fouls went LA's way. The Magic are 6-4 over their last 10 with Ayotte. Ayotte was one of the refs in the Mavs/OKC game last season in which Marc Cuban was fined $75,000 for criticizing the referees as among the worst he has ween. Ayotte has a home W/L record this season is 2-2.

Sean Corbin

The 18-year NBA referee has officiated 1,057 regular season NBA games and 49 Playoff games, along with the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, 1999 Japan Games in Tokyo and the 1996 Schick Rookie Game. Corbin spent the summer of 2004 officiating basketball at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Corbin’s resume includes four years officiating in the CBA and nine years of collegiate officiating experience in the Big East, Southern, Southeastern, Mid-Eastern Athletic and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conferences. He also has four years of high school basketball officiating experience.

Corbin, a Baltimore native, has been involved in charitable efforts in the city, including working for healthcare for the homeless. His athletic accomplishments still remain notable in the Baltimore community, where he played baseball and basketball at Coppin State College and Towson Catholic High School.

The Celtics are 1-1 this season including a win over the Nets in preseason and a loss to Detroit. The officiating in those games was ok. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games with Corbin. He's one of the referees that you don't really notice on the court because he doesn't make a lot of questionable calls either way. The Magic are 5-5 in their last 10 games with Corbin. His home W/L record is 4-1.