Paolo Banchero says Celtics “guys” stepped up big

As Jason Beede explained, the “guys” Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic referred to were not the usual stars of the Boston Celtics, but a mix of reserves and lesser-used players stepping into bigger roles.

With Boston already locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and resting its regular starting lineup along with several key rotation pieces, the team entered the game with just eight available players – yet still managed to outperform the Orlando Magic.

Several of those fill-in contributors delivered standout performances, with Baylor Scheierman scoring 30 points, Ron Harper Jr. adding 27, Luka Garza also putting up 27, and John Tonje finishing with 13 – all marking career-best scoring efforts on the same night.

“They hit a ton of shots, we turned it over, gave them a couple extra opportunities and that was a big portion of the ballgame,” Jamahl Mosley said.

“But you’ve got to give Boston a hell of a ton of credit for the way they came out with those seven-eight guys and played their tails off.”