Magic forward Jonathon Simmons says Orlando is on par with the Boston Celtics.
Simmons told the media he likes his team’s chances against anyone following Monday night’s 93-90 win in Beantown.
.@ThaRealJsimms is proud of tonight’s victory over the Celtics and says that as long as the @OrlandoMagic put the work in, it doesn’t take long to achieve greatness. #NBA #PureMagic pic.twitter.com/N0uaMTokUZ
— FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) October 23, 2018
“It’s always good to get a road win, a steal on the road against a good team,” Simmons said.
“And I think we’re just as good as them. We just have to learn each other’s tendencies and just get better continuity with each other.
“I like our chances against anybody, but we have to do it every night.”
Boston, the prohibitive favorite in the Eastern Conference, continues to work through early-season struggles.
Per the Orlando Sentinel:
“Three out of the four [games] have been close and we’ve shown good poise and good fight defensively,” said [head coach Steve] Clifford, who still wants better transition defense but like his team’s effort. “We’ve played four games and we’ve shown good fight and readiness in three of them. That has to be an every night thing, but obviously it’s there.”
[Evan] Fournier, who has been solid in most every other phase of his game as he struggles to knock down shots in the early going, agreed.
“[The Celtics] had good stretches but we kept our composure,” Fournier said. “The key thing for us is to make sure we execute; execute offensively, defensively. If you want to become a good team, that’s what good teams do. They execute, they don’t panic, they stick to the gameplan and that’s a big reason why we won.”
