addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico");
ORLANDO – If the Celtics didn’t know it before Sunday night, they sure know it now: it’s tough to sweep a home-and-home set in the NBA.
Sunday’s 119-114 loss in Orlando stands as the latest supporting evidence in this case. Boston has now failed to sweep all three of its home-and-homes during its 2015-16 season.
Two nights ago at TD Garden, the Celtics dismantled Orlando. They legitimately forced their visitors into submission during a 113-94 victory. The Magic quit.
Boston’s dominant victory left the Magic demoralized, mystified and utterly dejected.
“We’re just not playing good basketball,” Tobias Harris said after the loss, Orlando’s eighth in a row and 12th in 13 games.
“We are playing soft right now,” Victor Oladipo added. “We’re not playing together, and it’s not working.”
Yet as Brad Stevens warned prior to Sunday’s game, nothing is guaranteed in this league.
“It’s a hard league to win in,” he said, making a subtle and eerie forecast of what was to come later on in the night.
Orlando took the floor Sunday night and looked like a completely different team in its home arena, where it has now accumulated a 13-11 record on the season. It played with fire and passion and controlled the second half en route to a relatively comfortable win.
Some of the Magic’s youngest players shined during the win. Aaron Gordon tallied career highs of 19 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. Mario Hezonja also set a new career high by scoring 17 points of his own.
Keep in mind, those two players had combined for 14 points Friday night in Boston.
Suddenly, these two teams had changed places; the Magic exited Amway Center with their heads held high, while the Celtics felt deflated thanks to a disappointing loss.
It just goes to show that nothing can be taken for granted in this league. Not a series. Not a game. Not a possession.
Any team can win on any given night, which makes it all the more difficult to sweep an opponent in consecutive games in two different arenas.
Boston failed to capitalize on a similar opportunity back in November against the Brooklyn Nets. The Celtics crushed Brooklyn on Nov. 20 at TD Garden, by a count of 120-95. That victory dropped the Nets to 2-11 on the season.
Two nights later, also on a Sunday evening, Boston’s opponent bounced back. The Nets never trailed while logging a breezy 111-101 victory that wasn’t as close as the score would indicate. Brooklyn secured a split of its home-and-home with the C’s.
Boston’s third home-and-home of the season was also played against Brooklyn, this time in early January. The two teams just happened to flip roles during that set.
It was the Nets who snagged a 100-97 win on Jan. 2 in Boston on the front end of that back-to-back. The C’s then responded two nights later in Brooklyn with a 103-94 victory, keyed by Jae Crowder’s career-high 25 points.
Boston’s four games against the Nets are far in the rearview mirror. As the Celtics saddle up to head to New York for a tilt with the Knicks, so, too, will be this split with the Magic.
In the end, no one should overreact to Sunday’s defeat in Orlando, just as they shouldn’t have done back in November and January when the Nets rolled through. Yes, between the Celtics and the Magic, the Celtics are undoubtedly the better team. But that’s why they play the games.
Sweeping a home-and-home in the world’s greatest basketball league, let alone one against a team that’s loaded with young talent like Orlando, is a daunting task.
It should be no surprise, to the Celtics or to anyone else, that Boston came up empty in its attempt to do so this season.