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- Boston’s Rajon Rondo can tie John Stockton for the second-longest streak in NBA history of games with 10 or more assists. He goes into the Celtics’ first meeting of the season against Orlando with 36 consecutive games in double figures dating back to March 11. Stockton had 37 in a row for the Utah Jazz in 1989. The record is 46, set by Magic Johnson from April 1983 to February 1984. Rondo also needs only four assists to move past JoJo White into fifth place on the Celtics’ all-time list in that category.
- Glen Davis, who spent the first four seasons of his career with the Celtics, has yet to beat his former team since the Magic acquired him for Brandon Bass. Davis, whose relationship with Celtics coach Doc Rivers was sometimes on the stormy side, said after Sunday’s pregame shootaround that Rivers was “more of a military-minded type of guy” than current Magic coach Jacque Vaughn. “Jacque is more of a Gandhi type of guy, soft but powerful,” he said.
- Vaughn’s one season as a player with the Magic was also Rivers’ last full season as their coach (2002-03). “I learned a lot,” he said. “He was great at draw-ups. It was a good time in my life.” The Magic made the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and took a 3-1 series lead on the Detroit Pistons before losing soundly in the final three games.
- The Magic are coming off their best shooting performance of the season. They shot 50 percent from the floor, including a season-high 11 3-point field goals, against Cleveland. Since the 2008-09 season, Orlando’s record is 68-2 when making at least half of their shots. The Celtics are uncharacteristically near the bottom of the NBA this season in field-goal defense (46.3 percent).
- Magic rookie Maurice Harkless will make his third straight start at small forward and be matched up against Paul Pierce, who had 27 points Friday night in a win over Oklahoma City.
– Ken Hornack
