The Celtics needed just five games to get past the pesky, playoff-hardened Heat in their opening-round series. Boston’s Round 2 opponent will be a team with far less postseason experience.
Which team? That’s still to be determined.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic will play Game 6 of their first-round series Friday night, with a potential Game 7 set for Sunday. The winner will move on to face the top-seeded Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The No. 4 seed Cavs, who lead the series 3-2, have not advanced past the first round since their last LeBron James-led NBA Finals run in 2018. They lost to the Knicks in five games last season after a four-year playoff absence.
The fifth-seeded Magic, meanwhile, have won as many games in these playoffs (two) as they did in the previous 11 postseasons combined. Orlando has not won a series since 2010, when Dwight Howard and Co. fell to the Celtics in the East finals.
Whichever squad Boston faces will be in uncharted territory for much of its roster. But that doesn’t mean they can’t threaten the 64-win Celtics, especially since standout C’s big man Kristaps Porzingis (calf strain) is not expected to play in the series.
“Each team presents a different level of challenge,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said after his team eliminated Miami with a 118-84 win Wednesday night at TD Garden. “I think for us, we have to stay open-minded to go to different stuff. What wins one series, what wins one game, is not going to win the next game, is not going to win the next series.
“Every team is better than us at something, and we’re better than them at something.”
What do the Cavs and Magic do well? Play defense, for one. Both teams ranked in the top seven in points allowed per 100 possessions during the regular season, with Orlando placing third behind Minnesota and Boston. The first two games of their best-of-seven series were rock fights, with neither team cracking 100 points.
Cleveland won both games at home, then were blown out in Orlando in the next two, with superstar-in-the-making Paolo Banchero notching 31 points and 14 rebounds in Game 3 and Franz Wagner going for 34 and 13 in Game 4.
The 21-year-old Banchero, last year’s NBA Rookie of the Year, scored 39 points Tuesday night in Game 5, but Cleveland won a 104-103 thriller to push Orlando to the brink of elimination.
The Cavs’ offense runs through five-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell, who has plenty of playoff experience from his years in Utah (and now is healthy after missing time with a lingering knee injury). Cleveland also boasts a strong frontcourt duo in Jarrett Allen and 22-year-old Evan Mobley, whose length could give the Celtics problems without Porzingis. Allen missed Game 5 with a bruised rib, so his status bears monitoring.
Boston fans also will spot a familiar face on Cleveland’s bench: veteran tough guy Marcus Morris Sr., who played 26 minutes Tuesday night.
The Celtics saw the Cavaliers and Magic three times each during the regular season and went a combined 4-2, winning all four matchups at TD Garden and losing in Cleveland and Orlando. Boston blew a 22-point fourth-quarter lead in the Cavs loss.
After their gentleman’s sweep of the Heat, the Celtics will have at least three days of rest before their next series tips off. If Cleveland eliminates Orlando on Friday, Game 1 of C’s-Cavs would be Sunday at 1 p.m. at TD Garden. If that series goes seven, Boston would host the second-round opener on Tuesday night.
“We got past the first round, and that’s the first step,” said guard Derrick White, who scored 68 points and made 13 3-pointers over the final two games of the Miami series. “We understand what the bigger picture is and what’s ahead of us. It doesn’t get any easier.
“We don’t start the next series up 1-0 because of what we did (Wednesday), so we’re just going to have to move on and reset.”
