Celtics suffer baffling 105-103 loss in Orlando

The Boston Celtics suffered one of their worst loss of the season, as they left multiple points off the board due to missed free throws and lost to the Magic in Orlando 105-103. The Celtics had one last chance to tie, but Jayson Tatum’s final shot was long and bounced away as time expired.

Free throws were the difference in the game, as Orlando shot 22-of-24 at the charity stripe, while Boston was just 19-of-28.

In addition to the woes at the line, the Celtics bench put in one of their worst efforts of the year. Terry Rozier in particular had some struggles, as he was 0-for-5 from the field and -20 in plus/minus for the game. Overall, the Boston reserves combined to shoot 10-of-29 from the floor.

Orlando got big nights from Aaron Gordon, who scored 28 points and made all 13 of his free throw attempts. Terrence Ross came off the Orlando bench to score 25 points, aided by making five three-pointers. Evan Fournier had 18 for Orlando, including some big shots late, while Nikola Vucevic scored 16 for the Magic.

Boston was led in scoring by Kyrie Irving who had 24. Marcus Morris added 17 and Jayson Tatum put in 16 of his own points. The Celtics had six players reach double-figures, but couldn’t find consistent offense for most of the night, as the team hit just 42.2 percent from the floor.

It was a fairly baffling loss, as Boston led by 10 or more points a handful of times throughout the night, but simply could not put Orlando away. The loss was the Celtics second straight, after they had won their previous four games. The team will look to get back on track when they travel to Brooklyn to play the Nets on Monday night.