Celtics star Jayson Tatum gave flowers to Paolo Banchero for a “hard to say” cause that stunned fans

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum was impressed by what he saw from the Orlando Magic during Friday afternoon’s game.

On Friday afternoon, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics saw their record on the 2023-24 NBA season drop to a still-impressive 12-4 with a tough road loss to the Orlando Magic.

Playing without point guard Jrue Holiday, and with Kristaps Porzingis leaving the game early due to injury, Tatum did all he could to help guide the undermanned Celtics on offense, but ultimately, Orlando pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 113-96 victory.

After the game, Tatum spoke glowingly about the Magic, who are led by power forward Paolo Banchero and are currently on an impressive six-game winning streak.

“They are a good team,” said Tatum, per Fawzan Amer of The Sixth Man Show. “Well coached… They’ve got some talented guys.

They’ve got some guys that compete, and they play hard and they play together.”

Orlando indeed looked the part of all of Jayson Tatum’s compliments on Friday afternoon.

This isn’t the first time in recent memory that the Celtics have had their struggles with Orlando.

Last year, those issues were also prevalent, including a two game home mini-series against the Magic early in the 2022-23 season in which Boston shockingly dropped both games.

As for the Celtics, Friday’s performance shouldn’t be a cause for any huge concern given the injuries Boston was dealing with, but the Celtics and their fans surely would like to see more from Jaylen Brown, who has struggled with inconsistency thus far on the season.

Up next for the Celtics is a game against the Atlanta Hawks on November 26 at home.