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Gordon Hayward and Kemba Walker lead comeback 109-98 win over Orlando Magic

With the Celtics facing a 16-point deficit in the second quarter, Kemba Walker and Gordon Hayward stepped up big-time to bring Boston back. The Guys in Green eventually walked away with a hard-fought 109-98 victory over the Orlando Magic.


Kemba came away with a team-high 37 points on 12-of-23 from the field, 6-of-12 on treys and a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. He did a bit of everything to keep Boston in the game, adding six assists and four steals (per NBA's Bill Fay):

Walker scored 19 of his points in the second quarter, when the Celtics faced a 46-30 deficit. The Celtics point guard single-handedly kept a disorganized offense from digging too deep a hole by hitting 10 of 16 shots in the first half, including four 3-pointers.

“I thought (Walker) gave us everything he had in the first half and we were worried (whether) he would have much left,” Stevens said. “It was up to everyone else to take it to another level at that point and fortunately we did.”

Walker didn’t score in the third period, but Hayward and the aggressive defense were enough to allow Boston to pull away.

Hayward scored 12 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had four assists as Boston wiped out the 16-point deficit and took an 82-77 lead into the fourth quarter. Boston expanded it lead to 95-81 when Walker drilled his sixth 3-pointer of the game with 8:46 to go.
Gordon once again displayed the versatility that that continually proves his worth to the Celtics. He racked up a solid double-double of 22 points and 14 boards, while handing out five assists.


No Jayson Tatum (groin), Jaylen Brown (ankle) and Enes Kanter (hip) - no problem. The Walker-Hayward pairing was more than enough to overcome the temporary absence of three key cogs. With the trade deadline 12 days away, we can expect the trade-Gordon rants to subside somewhat.

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