Joe Mazzulla quickly shut down any notion that was the case.

The Celtics simply ran out of time to fix an ending they should have seen coming from a mile away, Boston losing 108-104.

Orlando sits 18-12 and fourth in the East after an all-time comeback victory over the Miami Heat on Saturday night. Boston enters the contest 22-6 and second in the East after a 25-point victory over the Chicago Bulls the same evening. Here's the latest on player health and status ahead of the contest.

The Magic are still dangerous enough that the Celtics will need to avoid playing down to their opponent if they don't want a surprise.

Jaylen Brown didn't seem thrilled with how the officials called the game in the Celtics' loss to the Magic on Monday night.

Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis and Magic guard Jalen Suggs got in each other's faces and exchanged words in the fourth quarter, The situation escalated when Orlando big man Goga Bitadze grabbed Porzingis near the throat and both sides needed to be held back.

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Jaylen Brown scored 35 points on Monday, but the Jayson-Tatum-less Celtics dropped a surprising loss to a short-handed but hard-nosed Magic team, falling 108-104. Here are the takeaways. Where should we even start trying to explain how the game ended?

Then the third quarter happened, the Magic ramped up their defense, the Celtics couldn’t even get off consistent 3-pointers and then their late rally fell short.