The Boston Celtics entered Wednesday’s game against the Magic with a 33-7 away record. A win would have tied them with the 2015-16 Warriors (34-7) for the best road record in NBA history.
Instead of gunning for the milestone, Joe Mazzulla decided to rest all his starters, and six of his top seven players, as the C’s suffered a 96-76 loss to the Magic. The 76 points were the lowest scoring output by a Celtics team since Jan. 2021 and the third-lowest by any team this season.
On the second night of a back-to-back, Boston was justified in prioritizing player health ahead of its NBA title defense. After the loss, Mazzulla said his intention was not to evaluate which of his second- and third-stringers could contribute to a playoff run but to rest his key players.
“One game doesn’t do that,” Mazzulla said of Baylor Scheierman, Neemias Queta, Drew Peterson and other bench-warmers. “It’s a whole body of work over the course of games, practices, workouts, film session — there wasn’t one thing they could do tonight to impact what they’ve done over the course of the season.”
While the Celtics won’t finish the 2024-25 season as the greatest road team ever, they make a compelling case for the most dominant. Per NBC Sports, they outscored teams on the road by 9.3 points this season, which would have been significantly higher if not for the 20-point loss to Orlando on Tuesday.
Only the 1971-72 Lakers (11.3) and 2024-25 Thunder (9.6) maintained higher road points differentials. The Thunder’s margin could drop in their final two road games against the Jazz and Pelicans, especially if they take the Celtics route and rest all their key players.
