BOSTON — The Celtics completed their regular-season home schedule by losing not only a game but two players to injuries.
After building a 13-point first-half lead, the Celtics were overtaken by the Orlando Magic, 116-108, Sunday night at the TD Garden.
During the course of the loss, the Celtics saw a pair of starters, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart, head to the locker room that kept them out for the remainder of the game.
Tatum suffered a left shin [...]
BOSTON — The Celtics completed their regular-season home schedule by losing not only a game but two players to injuries.
After building a 13-point first-half lead, the Celtics were overtaken by the Orlando Magic, 116-108, Sunday night at the TD Garden.
During the course of the loss, the Celtics saw a pair of starters, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart, head to the locker room that kept them out for the remainder of the game.
Tatum suffered a left shin contusion about five minutes into the game and hobbled to the locker room.
Smart was hurt when he collided with Orlando center Nikola Vucevic midway through the third quarter. He stayed in the game briefly, then collapsed to the floor due to the pain. His injury is described as a left hip contusion.
Despite the loss to the Magic, who clinched their first trip to the playoffs since 2012, the Celtics are assured of the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference by virtue of an Indiana Pacers loss earlier in the day.
The Celtics and Pacers will open the first-round series at the Garden, most likely on Sunday.
The Magic held a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, thanks to the shooting of Terrence Ross, but the Celtics pulled even at 106 with less than three minutes to go.
They were then outscored, 10-2, the rest of the way, giving the Magic a 3-0 record against the Celtics this season.
Irving finished with 23 points, six assists and five rebounds while Al Horford scored 18 points to go with seven assists.
Also in double figures for the Celtics were Gordon Hayward with 16 and Marcus Morris and Jaylen Brown with 13 each. Ross (26), Vucevic (25) and Fournier (24) led the Magic, who have won 21 of their last 30 games.
The Celtics were outscored, 11-0, when Ross scored all of the Magic points early in the fourth quarter to give Orlando a 94-80 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining.
The Magic maintained that 14-point edge until the Celtics put together a 13-0 run that got them within 99-98 with 4:49 to play.
Irving got it going with a basket, Brown made back-to-back 3-pointers, Morris hit a pair of foul shots and Irving converted a 3-pointer.
Ross hit another 3-pointer for a 102-98 lead but Irving answered with a three-point play. The Magic went up, 106-103, with 3:04 to go, but Irving delivered a 3-pointer with 2:47 to go to even the game.
Orlando took over from there, getting inside baskets by Fournier and Aaron Gordon plus two Michael Carter-Williams foul shots for a 112-106 lead with 47.8 seconds to g.
The Celtics would get no closer than four points the rest of the way.
There were 11 lead changes and two ties in a back-and-forth third quarter, but the Magic went in front for good at 70-69 on a reverse layup by Gordon with 4:09 to go.
The Celtics fell behind by as many as seven in the quarter when Ross hit three foul shots after being hit while attempting a 3-pointer. A tip-in by Kehm Bird with 14.6 seconds remaining in the quarter put the Magic in front, 83-78, going into the final 12 minutes.
The Celtics built a 13-point lead during the second quarter, going on a 20-7 run with six different players scoring.
But after opening a 50-37 edge with 4:32 remaining on an Irving jumper, the Celtics were outscored, 11-2, the rest of the quarter and were holding a 52-48 lead at the break.
Vucevic started the run with two inside baskets, and the Magic scored seven points in the final 1:34 of the second quarter. The Celtics turned the ball over four times in the last 3:07, two of them mistakes by Irving.
The game was even at 27 after one quarter with seven ties and six lead changes in the opening 12 minutes.
The Magic led by as many as five points while the Celtics were on top by three during the quarter.
The big men got their teams going early with Vucevic scoring 13 points on 6 for 8 shooting to go with five rebounds while Horford made 4 of 6 shots and had 10 points plus three assists.
Both teams shot 48 percent from the field and each hit three 3-pointers. The Celtics received 12 of their points from the bench with Marcus Morris scoring six, hitting a pair of 3-pointers.