Boston Celtics vs. Orlando Magic Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/6/2022

Time: 6 p.m. ET

Venue: Amway Center, Orlando, FL

Where to watch: BSFL, NBCSB

DraftKings: Celtics -7.5

WynnBet: Celtics -7.5 

Caesars: NL

Celtics: 29-25 (8th, East)

Magic: 12-42 (Last, East)

The Boston Celtics hit the road to take on the Orlando Magic on Sunday, and you shouldn't overthink this one. Take the Celtics against the lowly Magic, who are on the second night of a back-to-back.

The only unfortunate thing about piling bad juju on the Magic nowadays is we have to overlook the fact they won three of four before Saturday's 135-115 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at home. It just turned into a night for Ja Morant to dunk on poor souls and watch that offense just make an absurd amount of shots.

Meanwhile, the Celtics are on a four-game winning streak and are coming off a 102-93 win at the Detroit Pistons. The wins haven't been as impressive if you take out the 30-point home win against the Miami Heat on Jan. 31, but the Celtics have needed to rack up some wins after their bouts with injuries and COVID alike.

Jayson Tatum had 24 points to lead the Celtics on the road, and the defense offset a rough night from Jaylen Brown (5 of 15, 13 points).

"I just go back to us being locked in," Celtics center Robert Williams said. "We've got great scorers, most people on our team can score but when we're locked in defensively and we cover for each other, I feel like that's when we're playing our best."

The biggest reason for Boston's resurgence is because the best players are being the best players, primarily Tatum. The All-Star forward is averaging 27.4 points and eight rebounds in the last 10 games and has made almost 49 percent of his shots to raise his season percentage to 43%.

Slowly but surely, there's an identity brewing with first-year coach Ime Udoka. It was bound to take some time, but the defensive identity is on display. Boston held Detroit to 32.7 percent shooting on Friday.

"We're coming out with the right focus from the start," Boston coach Ime Udoka said. "We guarded extremely well for most of the game."

I normally don't think anything negative about the home team being on the second leg of a back-to-back, but the Magic are not in the right position to think of anything but negativity. Orlando shot just 43 percent in their loss to the Grizzlies. Normally that's not a problem when scoring 115 points, but giving up 135 means that it's not important.

Cole Anthony led with 22 points, and Jalen Suggs had 17 points for a solid outing from the young backcourt.

"We did not do a good job (keeping Morant out of the paint), he was very comfortable and he got to all the spots he needed to be," Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. "Us being physical, finding heat and getting into the basketball, we'll have to do a much better job of that moving forward."

If they had trouble keeping Morant out of the paint, good luck trying to keep Tatum and Brown out from driving. Especially with red-hot Tatum, good luck and say your prayers. Celtics by 16

The under is 25-10 when the Celtics are the favorite this season.

The Celtics are 34-24 ATS following back-to-back unders.

The Magic are 19-42 ATS in their last 61 as a home dog.

PG: Marcus Smart

SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Al Horford
C: Robert Williams III

PG: Cole Anthony

SG: Jalen Suggs
SF: Franz Wagner
PF: Wendell Carter Jr.
C: Mo Bamba

Celtics: None

Magic: R.J. Hampton (knee, out), Markelle Fultz (knee, out), E'Twaun Moore (knee, out), Jonathan Isaac (knee, out)