What the Magic Said After Beating the Celtics in Game 3

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Magic notched their first win of their best-of-seven, first-round playoff series with the Boston Celtics on Friday night, staving them off late with a 95-93 result.

Recap: Magic outlast Celtics late in Game 3 | Full series schedule

After the game, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley, center Wendell Carter Jr. and forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner met reporters to discuss the result.

Here's what they had to say.

Jamahl Mosley

On what pleased him most about the group’s effort...

“Our fans. We talked about being at home, we talked about their support, we talk about how loud this building was, the energy that we had to have. There were so many times in this game that they propelled us with the energy when we went on that 16-3 run and I think those are the things that we talked about what we need. But our guys being able to stay resilient when we got down 11, [it] didn’t rattle us. At halftime, being down 10, you know the end of play three that could’ve been a momentum shift; but our guys regrouped, rallied back and continued to fight.”

On what was said in the moments that Boston kept fighting back...

“Nothing. This is a group that continues to pull for one another, no matter who’s on the floor, no matter who’s on the bench. These guys continue to talk to one another about what we needed to do, and it came with the defensive end of the floor. Can we sit down and string a couple stops together? That’s what we were talking about in the huddle. Can we string stops together to get out and run and get some easy baskets.”

On what he saw tonight that was lacking in games one and two...

“It was a combination of things; I think we did a much better job on the defensive glass. I think we held them to eight offensive rebounds, where in the other games they had 13 for 20 points and 17 points for second chance points. Our ability to keep them off the glass was very big for us tonight.”

On the key to their strong third quarter tonight...

“Our guys just came out – we didn’t have to watch anything; you didn’t have to think about a lot of adjustments in that moment. It was about digging in and understanding where we were and how we needed to play. And we came out and moved the basketball, attacked the rim, sat down and got stops, forced them into some tough twos, but we were able to turn them over as well. I think that was a big key in the game.”

On what stood out to him about Franz Wagner’s performance tonight...

“A lot. I mean his resilience – I think there was a time one of the coaches came to me and said Franz has run 16 minutes straight, and that’s okay. That’s the toughness that he had; Paolo did the same thing the other night. That’s what these guys are willing and wanting to do in order to make sure that we come away with a victory.”

Franz Wagner

On the team’s performance tonight and the ability to get the win...

“I thought our defense, especially in the third (quarter) – that won us the game. You know, getting them off the line, not fouling them and then getting the rebounds.”

On how difficult it was to perform on both ends of the court...

“Obviously, they’re a really good team. I thought our effort was great all night, again. I thought we didn’t start the first half great and ended it pretty bad too. It took a lot of poise in that third [quarter] to hold a really good team to 11 points.”

On what the team did to slow down the Celtics...

“I think obviously, we switched a ton. They’ve got really good shooters. Get them off the line and then I thought, especially in the second half, I thought we did a better job rebounding the ball. You know, just try to make it tough on them, not letting them get too close to the rim, and like I said, box out.”

Paolo Banchero

On Franz Wagner’s performance tonight on both ends of the floor...

“I would say really gutsy. He was locked in from start to finish on both sides of the ball. He was just being ultra-aggressive on both sides of the floor.”

On the team’s performance tonight...

“I would say [that] I’m definitely proud of the team. We knew coming back down 0-2, we were going to have to do whatever we could to get this game and give ourselves a chance to tie it up [at] 2-2. I’m just proud of how we didn’t allow some of their runs and some of the plays that they made affect us. We just kept playing and got the win.”

On the team’s ability to get stops down the stretch of the game...

“Like I said, it was just a gutsy win. Like you said, we knew they were going to make a run and they did, but towards the end we made enough plays, defensively and offensively, to keep them at arm's length and be able to hold them off.”

Up Next

Orlando hosts Boston in Game 4 on Sunday, April 27, at 7 p.m. on TNT.

To see the full series schedule, click here.

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