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Jayson Tatum's historic game helps send Celtics to East semis
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Jayson Tatum's historic game helps send Celtics to Eastern Conference semis

The Boston Celtics are in the second round of the playoffs. After a 120-89 victory over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night, Boston is moving onto the Eastern Conference semifinals for the eighth time in nine seasons. 

While the Celtics made quick work of the Magic in five games, Orlando put up a strong fight, as the Paolo Banchero-led squad held up on defense and bogged the Celtics down into low-scoring games. After averaging 120.6 points per game in the regular season, the Magic held the Celtics to 103 per contest in this series.

Game 5 was much like the previous contests in this series, with the Magic holding their own on defense but contributing very little on the offensive end. Orlando's defense held up in the first half, but Boston caught fire in the latter half of the game. The Celtics missed their first seven attempts form three-point range but proceeded to go 13-of-17 for the rest of the game. 

Jayson Tatum led all scorers with 35 points, to go along with a near-triple-double of 10 assists and eight rebounds. This marked his third consecutive game putting up at least 35 points, joining Larry Bird as the only Celtics to do this in the playoffs. In Tatum's three games since returning from a wrist injury he suffered in Game 1, the Celtics star has averaged 36/10.3/5.7 all while shooting 44% from three-point range.

Orlando couldn't keep up with the Celtics' high-flying offense. This year's Magic team ranked dead-last in the NBA in three point percentage (31.8%) and three-point makes (921). Once the Celtics built up a big lead, there was nothing the Magic could do to come back. 

It was a rough night for Orlando's young star, Banchero. The 22-year-old was inefficient from the floor, shooting 6-of-15, and picked up his fifth foul in the middle of the third quarter. Once Banchero was forced out of the game, the Celtics went on a run and never relinquished the lead. 

The Celtics can rest up and get healthier, now waiting to play the winner of the Pistons-Knicks series as they continue their pursuit of winning back-to-back championships. 

Rocky D'Antonio

Rocky D'Antonio is a freelance contributing writer. His interests include the NBA, MLB, the NFL, and especially Formula 1. He has experience writing opinion pieces and beat reporting and is based out of New York City.

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