The short-handed Orlando Magic struggled to find their offense. The short-handed Boston Celtics had no such trouble.
The Magic watched the Celtics break open a six-point game in the third quarter and coast to a 124-97 win Friday night at TD Garden.
Aaron Gordon finished with 17 points, while Nikola Vucevic, Dwayne Bacon and Cole Anthony each scored 15 to lead Orlando, which dropped its fourth straight and fell to 6-6.
Anthony made his first four shots but was 3 for 14 after that.
Khem Birch had 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds — seven on the offensive end — for the Magic.
Starting shooting guard Evan Fournier (back spasms) missed his seventh straight game, while Michael Carter-Williams (foot) missed his fifth straight.
The Magic also played without reserve center Mo Bamba. He does not have COVID-19, but he is in the league’s health and safety protocols because of non-team contact tracing and remained in Orlando.
Jaylen Brown finished with 21 points to lead Boston (8-3), which hadn’t played since Jan. 8 because of issued related to COVID-19. Wednesday’s game against the Magic was postponed because the Celtics didn’t have enough players to meet the league requirement.
Jeff Teague had 17 points and Payton Pritchard finished with 16 for the Celtics, who played without leading scorer Jayson Tatum and Carsen Edwards. Both are in the league’s health and safety protocols.
Orlando shot 54.5% in the first quarter — one that was disrupted by four turnovers — but otherwise struggled to consistently generate offense. Orlando wound up 38 of 94 from the field (40.4%).
Boston shot 51.1% (45 of 88) and outscored Orlando in every quarter.
The 3-point shooting also proved pivotal. Smart and Pritchard combined for eight of the team’s 17 3s as the Celtics outscored the Magic 51-21 from behind the arc.
In addition, the Celtics outscored the Magic 66-33 in bench points.
The Magic trailed by 10 late in the first quarter before a 13-2 run — capped by a Gordon 3-pointer — produced a 35-34 lead.
The lead lasted all of 15 seconds. Pritchard drained a 3-pointer and the Celtics scored on five of their next six possessions as part of a 21-9 run over a 6:12 stretch.
Orlando fell behind by 16, at 69-53, after Teague hit a short jumper in the lane before Bacon scored seven points to spark a 13-3 run.
The Celtics responded with a 11-2 burst as the Magic went cold again.
Boston put the game away with an 18-4 run over 4:11 stretch of the third and fourth quarters that produced a 101-72 lead with 10:06 to play.
The Magic play the second game of their back-to-back set Saturday at Barclays Center against the Brooklyn Nets. James Harden is likely to make his Nets’ debut after being traded from Houston earlier in the week. Brooklyn had listed him as questionable (pending trade) for Saturday’s contest.
