When the Orlando Magic lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2009 NBA Finals, Paul Pierce had some choice words for the Magic’s defeat. He tweeted in those early days of social media that the Finals looked like a “German shepard [sic] vs. a poodle” as the Lakers bounced the Magic in five games.
He promised the Rottweilers (the Celtics) would return in 2010.
To Paul Pierce and the Celtics, who lost to the Magic in the second round of those playoffs in seven games, there was a lot of unfinished business with Kevin Garnett out for the postseason. They never got the chance to defend their title. And they were miffed at the Magic beating them and advancing on to the NBA Finals.
It should be clear then the kind of team that Pierce values. He likes teams like his 2008 Celtics that are tough and defend at a high level. He likes no-nonsense teams.
The 2009 Magic were tough and defended. But Dwight Howard rubbed everyone the wrong way and teams that took a lot of threes like those Magic teams were looked down on as too finesse. They were not the Celtics’ kind of team. They were happy to end the Magic’s title window with a dominant six-game series win in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals.
The 2024 and 2025 Magic though? Pierce is not treating them like “poodles.” He sees some serious dog in this fight. And when Pierce and his fellow 2008 Celtics championship teammate in Garnett look at the biggest threats to their beloved Celtics, the young Magic are at the top of the list.
They are one of the teams both Pierce and Garnett believe could level up this season among the young teams in the East (the Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic):
“I think Orlando is going to be better than them. I think they’ve got something down there. I think they’ve got the best player out of those three teams. It’s close. I like Donovan Mitchell a lot. But Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, they’re young, they’re confident. They’ve got a team down there and they understand how to play together. They’re going to be a problem.”
Garnett took the Cavs in this debate because Donovan Mitchell is the more established star and the team is more proven year-over-year.
But even Garnett admitted Banchero is the superstar-in-waiting among those up-and-coming teams. They all like what the Magic have started building. Orlando still needs to add some pieces to get to the next level and support the team’s star in Banchero.
This is not the first time Pierce and Garnett have complimented this version of the Magic on their podcast either. They said in December that Orlando was a team that you could not sleep on the night before. You need to get your rest when you visit Orlando.
Pierce confirms that is still the thinking, calling the Magic one of the few teams to give the Celtics trouble the last few years.
Orlando went 1-2 against Boston last year, winning a high-profile game in the In-Season Tournament on Black Friday. The Celtics easily dispatched the Magic in back-to-back games in December, especially after Jalen Suggs injured his wrist in the first meeting in Boston.
But Orlando went 3-1 against Boston in the 2023 season and lost that lone game in a close battle early in the season (their home opener) in one of Banchero’s first games. The two wins in Boston were part of the team’s major turnaround in the middle of the season. The final win was Jonathan Isaac’s return to the court.
Banchero, for his part, is averaging 24.3 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game in seven career games against the Celtics. He has had some standout performances against fellow Duke alum Jayson Tatum throughout his career.
Orlando still has work to do to challenge Boston for the top of the Eastern Conference. But the Magic share that ambition.
Players talked early in the offseason about their desire to get homecourt advantage this upcoming season. And Banchero believes the Magic can compete with the top of the East very soon.
At least two NBA legends see it that way too.
Even if the Magic are not the favorite among up-and-coming contenders in the Eastern Conference, there are plenty of people who see the vision and what this young team is building.
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