ORLANDO, Fla. _ The chant started as the Orlando Magic's Jonathon Simmons stood at the free-throw line, waiting to take the second of two foul shots early in Friday night's third quarter.
"Let's go Cel-tics! Let's go Cel-tics! Let's go Cel-tics!"
If it had occurred at TD Garden in Boston, no one would've batted an eye.
But it happened at Amway Center in Orlando. Fans clad in Celtics green dotted the stands inside the arena, especially in the sections near the Celtics' bench. This, of course, is nothing new. On Friday, however, it was impossible not to notice how much Boston fans had to cheer and how precious little Orlando fans had to cheer.
Unable to generate much offense against one of the league's best defenses, the Magic lost, 92-83.
The Magic made only 39.1 percent of their shots overall, including five of their 28 attempts from 3-point range.
No wonder some of the home team's fans started to leave midway through the third quarter. The fans who left early missed the Magic outscoring the Celtics 31-17 in the fourth to make the game respectable.
Boston outclassed Orlando on the boards. The Celtics, who started Friday averaging 9.2 offensive rebounds per game, grabbed 16 offensive boards Friday and outscored the Magic in second-chance points 20-8.
Magic center Nikola Vucevic scored 10 of his 12 points in the third quarter, but the game already was out of hand by then, with the Celtics leading by at least 15 points the entire period.
The Celtics (47-22) and Magic (21-49) entered Friday's game riddled with injuries.
Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis didn't play for Boston. But Irving was ably replaced by Terry Rozier, who tallied 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross didn't play for Orlando.
Gordon and Fournier are the Magic's two leading scorers. Without them, the team has struggled to generate offense, with one major exception: Wednesday's 126-117 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Magic made 18 of their 34 attempts from 3-point range that night _ an unsustainable success rate.
Simmons scored a career-high 35 points on 11-of-22 shooting overall and 7-of-12 3-point shooting against Milwaukee.
But he cooled off against Boston. He made only five of his 11 shots _ including a 1-for-6 performance from deep _ en route to 13 points.
Friday's matchup was going to be a tough test for the Magic under any circumstance. The Celtics allow the fewest points per possession in the NBA.
"We've got to keep our turnovers low," Magic coach Frank Vogel said before the game. "We've got to execute on the offensive end. That's the No. 1 defense in the league that's coming in here. Even with some of the guys they have out, we know they're going to defend at a high level. The ability to minimize bad offensive possessions and let them get out in transition and get easy buckets is paramount."
In Friday's game, the Magic scored only 31 points in the first half _ their lowest point total in any half this season. They generated some open looks at the hoop, but those shots didn't fall. The Magic made only 32.5 percent of their shots and had eight first-half turnovers.
Still, the game was relatively close for a short while.
Orlando cut its deficit to 35-27 when D.J. Augustin made a pair of free throws with 4:58 remaining in the second quarter.
But Boston closed out the half on a 13-4 run as Orlando made two of its 10 shots.
The Magic trailed 48-31 at halftime.
No wonder the Celtics fans inside the building were the only ones cheering.
With 5:17 remaining in the fourth quarter, and Boston ahead 80-66, Augustin sprinted upcourt for a fast-break layup, but Celtics rookie Abdel Nader chased him down and blocked the shot.
Celtics fans roared.
