BOSTON CELTICS guard Avery Bradley (0) drives under the arm of Orlando Magic forward Jason Maxiell (54) during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game in Boston on Monday.
Avery Bradley simply couldn’t hold back that little smile.
Bradley scored 24 points as the Boston Celtics beat the Orlando Magic for the second time in four days, 120-105 on Monday night.
When asked if he was surprised the Magic kept leaving him open for midrange jumpers, Bradley had a slight grin before saying, “A little. But once it started going, I was praying it would keep falling, and it did.”
ORLANDO MAGIC guard E’Twaun Moore, right, drives to the basket against Boston Celtics forward Jared Sullinger (7) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Boston on Monday. The Celtics defeated the Magic 120-105.
Crawford, who took over the point when Stevens moved Bradley to the shooting guard spot, had 16 points and 10 assists with no turnovers in 32 1/2 minutes.
“Yeah, they’re playing really well together,” Stevens said.
Kelly Olynyk and Jeff Green each also had 16 points for Boston.
The Celtics shot 60 percent (51 for 85) against an Orlando team that entered the night with the NBA’s second-best field goal percentage defense.
“One of those days,” Stevens said. “You know you’re going to get jump shots because that’s what they force you into. Normally, those are inefficient shots.”
Arron Afflalo had 18 points and seven assists, Victor Oladipo scored 17 points and Nikola Vucevic had 15 points and 10 boards for Orlando, which dropped its 16th straight road game.
“We did a poor job tonight,” Magic forward Maurice Harkless said. “They just made shots tonight, so you have to give them credit. We just didn’t find a way to stop them.”
It was Boston’s 10th straight win in the series, dating back to the Magic’s victory at home on Christmas in 2010. The Celtics won 91-89 at Orlando on Friday night.
The Magic never seemed to be able to slow down Boston’s offense.
“It was pretty much all game long,” Afflalo said. “I really don’t feel like we were really in the game at any point just simply because we couldn’t get stops. You know to win on the road you have to get stops.”
The Celtics led by nine at the half and took complete control early in the third behind Bradley’s scoring.
“We’ve grown a lot offensively,” Bradley said. “At the beginning of the year, it was stagnant. Now we’re moving the ball a lot.”
Bradley nailed his first four shots in the quarter to go along with two free throws, pushing Boston’s lead to 75-64 midway into the third. The Celtics extended it to 87-72 on Courtney Lee’s 3-pointer from the left corner with 53 seconds left in the quarter and led by 13 heading to the fourth.
They didn’t let the Magic back into it in the final quarter, opening a 98-80 lead on Green’s jumper from the left corner with eight minutes to play. Lee’s putback gave Boston its first 20-point lead of the night, 104-84, with 6:35 left.
The Magic got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Boston shot 62.5 percent in the first half and held a 59-50 halftime edge.
Behind a strong shooting start in the opening quarter, the Celtics led 31-25 at the end of one. Boston connected on 13 of 19 attempts in the quarter.
After the Magic pulled to 39-37 midway into the second, the Celtics went on a 16- 6 run over the ensuing 5 minutes en route to their halftime advantage.
Notes — Stevens didn’t want to talk about how well his team’s defense has been just yet before the game. “I’m the wrong person to talk to about that,” he said before saying, “it could be a lot better.” The Celtics entered the night allowing the sixth-fewest points per game. … The game was the nightcap of a NHL/NBA doubleheader in TD Garden. The Bruins beat Tampa Bay 3-0 in the afternoon. … The Celtics held a moment of silence for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. … Orlando was holding teams to 40.3 percent shooting before Monday.
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