Jaylen Brown collected 35 points and the Boston Celtics avoided back-to-back home losses by beating the short-handed Orlando Magic 138-129 on Sunday night.
Boston, which lost to Brooklyn at home on Friday, received 23 points off the bench from Anfernee Simons and 19 from Peyton Pritchard. Simons was 4 of 7 from 3-point territory. Brown and Pritchard each had eight assists.
Winners of three of their last four games, the Celtics shot 60% from the field (53 of 88).
Jett Howard led the Magic with 30 points, seven rebounds and three assists off the bench. He scored 28 points in the second half, including 22 in the fourth quarter. Orlando received 18 points from both Jase Richardson and Desmond Bane. Franz Wagner added 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The loss ended Orlando’s three-game winning streak.
The Magic played without guard Jalen Suggs (left knee injury management), forward Paolo Banchero (left groin strain), center Wendell Carter Jr. (left ankle sprain) and center Goga Bitadze (sore left ankle).
Boston center Neemias Queta sustained an ankle injury in the first quarter, went to the locker room and did not return.
The Magic led 15-13, but the Celtics led 32-27 after one quarter and then scored 48 points in the second quarter to take an 80-57 halftime lead.
Boston shot 64.6% from the field in the first half (31 of 48), and 52.9% from 3-point territory (9 of 17). Ten players scored for the Celtics in the first 24 minutes.
Boston was up 89-63 following two Brown free throws with 9:16 left in the third quarter, and had a 110-89 advantage entering the fourth.
The Magic used a 9-0 run to slice Boston’s lead to 121-110 with 6:25 to play, and trailed 129-121 after Howard’s three-point play with 3:23 remaining. It was 133-127 after two Howard free throws with 1:11 left, but the Magic never got any closer.
