Celtics Play at Orlando on Sunday Afternoon, Then Fly to Houston: Boston's Back-to-Back Is the Rockets' Opening
Boston (4-1, four straight wins) tips at Orlando at 2:30 p.m. CT Sunday, then plays at Toyota Center on Monday night. Orlando is missing five rotation players, including Paolo Banchero - the scout Houston's staff gets for free.
ORLANDO - Before the Boston Celtics reach Houston, they have a Sunday afternoon to survive. Boston visits the Orlando Magic at Kia Center for a 3:30 p.m. Eastern tipoff - 2:30 p.m. in Houston - in the first leg of a back-to-back that ends Monday night at Toyota Center against the Rockets.
Boston arrives hot: 4-1, winners of four straight, and fresh off a 125-111 win at Chicago on Friday in which Payton Pritchard scored 30. Jayson Tatum is averaging 27.6 points and 7.8 assists, Paul George 21.4 points, and Pritchard 16.6 off the bench while shooting 43.3 percent from three; the Celtics have reached 125 points in three of their last four games. Their only listed absence is guard Devin Carter, out all season with an illness, though a back-to-back can always produce a rest decision that had not been announced in the reports read this cycle.
Orlando is the opposite picture. The Magic are 2-3 and missing five players: Paolo Banchero (high ankle sprain, hurt October 23 against Minnesota), Jalen Suggs (right knee contusion), Jonathan Isaac (left knee injury management), Noah Penda (partially torn hamstring) and Izaiyah Nelson (ankle). Franz Wagner has carried the extra load at 20.8 points and seven assists, Desmond Bane adds 17.2, and the Magic did win at Toronto 121-114 on Friday - but they are asking a short bench to guard the league's form team.
For the Rockets, the value of Sunday is the tape and the toll. Houston, 6-1 after Saturday's 119-98 rout of Oklahoma City, watches Boston's rotation minutes and any rest choices in Orlando, then gets the Celtics on the second night of the back-to-back at home. Monday's tip at Toyota Center is 7:30 p.m. CT.
