It’s hard to imagine that Moritz Wagner doesn’t have any reserved resentment for the Boston Celtics — really hard.
Wagner, who was traded by the Celtics after a nine-game run, showed out when the Magic hosted Boston in Orlando on Friday. With both teams fighting to secure a quarterfinal spot in the NBA In-Season Tournament, Wagner flipped the switch offensively playing off the bench in Orlando’s 113-96 victory over Boston.
The 26-year-old scored a game-high 27 points, shooting 9-of-13 from the field to finish a plus-15 through 24 minutes. In the fourth quarter, Wagner drained a pivotal 3-point basket to push Orlando’s lead to 12 with 7:22 minutes remaining left, hindering Boston’s fighting chance at losing for the fourth time this season on the road.
Is it just a coincidence that Wagner records a season-high when facing his old team? Perhaps. Or maybe there’s more behind Wagner having just 12 20-plus-point career performances under his belt, including four against the Celtics.
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Wagner and the Celtics split four matchups 2-2 when the six-year veteran scored over 20 points, dating back to Wagner’s NBA debut season with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019.
“It’s a game, it’s not controllable. Sometimes it comes to you and then you just take advantage of it,” Wagner said postgame, according to Dick Scanlon of NBC10 Boston. “There’s something really enjoyable about that process. You can get lost in that and just play, and it’s going to come back around.”
More importantly, Wagner did a number on Boston’s chances of making it out of Group C and advancing to the tournament quarterfinals.
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Orlando now leads Group C with a 3-1 record in tournament play, holding a plus-22 point differential. That means the Celtics will need to dish out a noteworthy thrashing to the Chicago Bulls during Boston’s Tuesday night In-Season Tournament battle, to do justice by their chances.
Not done, but not a favorable position to be in entering a favorable matchup.
Featured image via Jeremy Reper/USA TODAY Sports Images
