Tuesday night's Game 5 win officially sent the Boston Celtics to the second round of the playoffs. It was a hard-fought, physical series with the Orlando Magic, and one that gave the defending champions a real challenge against a very capable defensive team.
In the final contest of the series, the Celtics didn't win how they typically do. Usually one of the most prolific teams in the association when it comes to generating high-quality three-point looks, Boston struggled to hit their outside shot attempts and ended up with only 13 for the game, a lower mark than they're used to seeing. In the first half, they were a shocking 0-for-6 from distance.
But even as arguably the most explosive three-point shooting team in the league struggled to fully unlock their offense from distance, they still looked like a well-oiled machine as they took a close contest with the Magic and turned it into a blowout. What we saw from the Celtics in Game 5 should be a scary sight for the rest of the Eastern Conference.
Boston's 13 made threes against Orlando in this one came on just 24 attempts — leaving them with a 54.2% shooting mark from deep. The Celtics may not have generated a ton of looks from outside the arc like usual, but they still knocked them down at an extremely high clip.
The Celtics didn't need to hit a ton of threes to win Game 5
The Celtics' offense as a whole was humming. They assisted on 30 of 43 made field goals, and shot 56.6 percent from the floor overall. Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero are exceptional talents, but Boston was able to get the latter in foul trouble and dominate on the interior, walking away with a 48-36 points in the paint differential.
Truly, this series was a challenge. It was a gritty, defensive chess match that felt a lot closer than the box scores and series result will say. But it was the way the Celtics were able to negate their opponent's strengths and overcome some early-postseason adversity that is such a big indicator of why they're still championship material.
We were also reminded very quickly of just how well-rounded Boston's offense is, even against a defense as stingy as Orlando's. Jayson Tatum expressed after the game that the Celtics likely needed a series like this to sharpen them for the later rounds.
This kind of performance is what champions do in these situations. There was every opportunity to allow the Magic to hang around in this series, but the Celtics slammed the door shut in Game 5 and reminded everyone of just who they are.
