PHILADELPHIA — The Orlando Magic deactivated starting shooting guard Jason Richardson for their game Monday night against the Philadelphia 76ers and started J.J. Redick in Richardson’s place.

Richardson said the move was made because he continues to feel weakness in his left knee, which he originally injured during a game Jan. 12. The injury, which team officials have labeled as a bone bruise, forced Richardson to miss three games Jan. 16-18, but Richardson had returned to the lineup Jan. 20.

Richardson said coach Stan Van Gundy approached him after the loss Sunday night to the Indiana Pacers and told Richardson that it would be best for Richardson to take the Sixers’ game off.

“I don’t have strength in my knee yet,” Richardson said. “Stan saw it, and he felt like I could play well once we get started [in a game]. But once I sit down and take my rest, it’s hard to get my knee back going and moving. So he felt like he’d rather have me at 100 percent instead of playing at 60 percent.”

It’s unclear when Richardson will return, but he said he wanted to play Monday and wants to return as soon as possible.

Nelson still suffering

Richardson’s absence meant that the Magic were missing their entire regular starting backcourt.

Point guard Jameer Nelson missed his second consecutive game because he’s suffering from concession-like symptoms, and Van Gundy said before tipoff that Nelson probably will not play again until Feb. 6 at the earliest.

“Unfortunately, it keeps getting pushed back a little bit because he really hasn’t felt much better in the last couple of days,” Van Gundy said.

Moving forward

Slumping teams often have trouble doing the simplest things.

The Magic had reached that point as Monday’s game approached.

Their point guards recently have faced fullcourt pressure, the Magic were having problems just bringing the ball up the floor and getting into their halfcourt offense.

The difficulties began when Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley applied fullcourt pressure on Magic point guard Jameer Nelson on Jan. 23, and the tactic was so effective that teams have continued to do it at times ever since.

On Sunday night, the Indiana Pacers often hounded Chris Duhon as he filled in for Nelson. Duhon committed four of Orlando’s 19 turnovers in the 106-85 loss.

“Yeah, we’ve got to handle that better,” Van Gundy said. “Come on, it’s the NBA. You’ve got to get the ball up the floor.”

Van Gundy and his assistant coaches want to see Duhon, Larry Hughes and Hedo Turkoglu be more aggressive handling the pressure. Instead of moving laterally, Magic coaches want to see their players maneuver more north to south.

Slipping on “D”

One statistic must cause Van Gundy more concern than any other.

The Magic entered Monday ranked 19th in opponents’ field-goal percentage. They had allowed other teams to shoot 44.5 percent from the field.

“We’re a step late on a lot of things,” Van Gundy said. “It’s a matter of a little bit more effort, a little bit more discipline in what we’re doing and more will to get the job done. It’s not an easy thing, and we’re sort of taking the easy way out right now a lot of times.

“Whether that’s fatigue or whatever, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to overcome that, and we’re not doing it right now. And that, to me, is the most disturbing thing.”

Duhon said: “It’s easy to play defense when shots are being made and everybody’s into it. But we’ve got to become a team that when shots are not being made, we still put out a real good effort defensively that will keep us in games instead of having to always come back from double-digit leads.”

Layups

• Tony Battie started for the Sixers at center. Battie served as a mentor to Dwight Howard when Battie played for the Magic, and Battie nearly signed a free-agent deal with Orlando during the offseason. Battie actually won the opening tip Monday against Howard, prompting Howard to smile.

• The Magic entered Monday trying to avoid their first four-game losing streak since last season, when they did it twice: Dec. 14-21, 2010, and Dec. 4-10, 2010.

• Orlando activated rookie shooting guard DeAndre Liggins to take Richardson’s place on the active roster.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

Something ails the Orlando Magic.

Is it fatigue created by a brutal schedule? Or is something deeper at work?

Whatever the case, the team looks awful right now.

The Magic lost for the fourth time in five games Sunday, falling 106-85 on their home floor to the Indiana Pacers. Even Orlando’s normally placid fans rained boos down on the Magic during the final period, and the crowd had plenty of reasons to feel frustrated. The defense looked uninterested at times. The offense struggled to protect the ball. And, worst of all, the Pacers flat-out outhustled the Magic.

“We’re in a real tough stretch,” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We’re playing very poorly. Guys know it, and we’ve got to fight through it. I don’t know what else we can do.”

His team looks to be in freefall right now. In the last four losses, the Magic were clobbered by 31 points by the Boston Celtics, relinquished a 27-point lead to Boston, were routed by 26 by the hapless New Orleans Hornets and were annihilated by 21 by the Pacers.

Tough to believe the Magic held an 11-4 record on Jan. 20.

“I wish I could pinpoint one thing,” J.J. Redick said. “I wish that there was an algebraic equation and it had a final answer, but it doesn’t.”

He’s right.

Problems have arisen on all fronts.

There’s the offense. The Magic have failed to score more than 19 points in eight of their last 10 quarters of play.

There’s the defense. On Sunday, Orlando had so many defensive breakdowns that the Pacers made more than half their shots and scored 56 points in the paint.

There’s also an energy problem, and maybe that should cause more concern than anything else.

Although the Magic overcame a 15-point deficit in the second quarter to lead 51-48 at halftime, they collapsed in the third period.

“I thought that our guys came out with good energy, fought back with good energy,” Van Gundy said. “I can’t explain it coming out to start the third quarter, but we just had absolutely nothing.”

Indiana’s Danny Granger scored nine of his team-high 24 points in the third, and the Pacers made almost 64 percent of their shots.

Dwight Howard scored a team-high 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting. But he also missed 11 of his 15 free-throw attempts, and his continued struggles at the line prevent him from being a bona fide go-to guy when his teammates struggle.

And there was a lot of struggling going on.

With starting point guard Jameer Nelson out with a probable concussion, the Magic committed 19 total turnovers — 14 in the game’s first 17 minutes — and the team encounters difficulty just bringing the ball upcourt these days.

Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson and Ryan Anderson totaled just seven points in the entire second half.

Read More: Dwight Howard (C – ORL), Orlando Magic, New Orleans Hornets

The Orlando Magic coughed up a 20 plus point lead Thursday night to the Boston Celtics, scoring just eight points in the final quarter to squander a home win. Those woes carried over to Friday night as they were run off the floor by the New Orleans Hornets in their fourth game in five nights. The Magic failed to scored 20 points in a quarter, as the Hornets closed it out 93-67 at New Orleans Arena.

Dwight Howard was the only Magic player who showed up, scoring 28 points and grabbing 16 rebounds against an overmatched Hornet frontcourt. No other Magic player would score in double figures, as Orlando shot less than 40 percent from the field. In addition to the poor-shooting, they also committed 22 turnovers, which made this a laugher early in the fourth quarter.

The Magic now have one day off, before they host the Indiana Pacers at Amway Center on Sunday evening.

For more on the Magic, please visit Orlando Pinstriped Post, SB Nation’s Magic blog. For the perspective from the other side, please visit At the Hive, SB Nation’s Hornets blog.

Jason Richardson and his teammates were all crushed after giving up a 27-point lead at home to the Boston Celtics last night, and Richardson said that the Magic need to avoid getting the label of being soft. Too late? From the Orlando Sentinel: “A guy who just arrived last season — shooting guard Jason Richardson — said after the Magic blew a 27-point lead, ‘The guys know that we didn’t come out in the second half like we were supposed to. To go and give up a lead like that? We have to figure out a way to maintain stuff like that, lik ehow to play with leads like that or when teams put pressure on us. It’s folding like that. We don’t want to get that reputation..that we’re soft.’ Said Glen Davis, ‘You could see things unraveling, turnovers….and Boston smelled blood. They smelled pressure, and we didn’t do a good job of countering.’”

ORLANDO — Paul Pierce had 24 points and 10 assists, and E’Twaun Moore added 16 points to help the Boston Celtics erase a 27-point deficit and beat the Orlando Magic for the second time this week, 91-83 on Thursday night.

Pierce and Moore had 10 points each in the fourth quarter.

Dwight Howard led the Magic with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Orlando had an 11-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but shot 2 of 17 in the final 12 minutes. The Magic scored just eight points in the period.

The Celtics have won three straight for just the second time this season. It also was their fourth consecutive victory over the Magic, dating to last season.

Since a season-best, five-game winning streak, the Magic have lost three times in five games, including a 31-point defeat at Boston on Monday.

After being mostly manhandled on both ends for three quarters, Boston found its energy in the final 12 minutes, sparked by Pierce and Moore.

The Celtics opened the fourth quarter with a 15-1 run and grabbed their first lead since the opening period, 79-76 with 7:32 to play.

The Magic went 0-for-7 from the field, missed 5 of 6 free throws and committed three turnovers during Boston’s spurt.

A free throw by Pierce after Ryan Anderson’s technical foul made it 84-78 with 3:47 remaining. The Magic got within 84-80 after a pair of free throws by Hedo Turkoglu, but no closer.

Early on, it seemed like the Magic’s night.

In a reversal of its dismal performance in the first half of Monday’s loss, Orlando led 58-37 at halftime on Thursday — eclipsing its point total in the entire first game by a basket in the opening 24 minutes.

By Andy Hutchins

– Editor

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Jan 26, 2012 – The Orlando Magic’s chances of getting revenge on the Boston Celtics for an embarrassing loss on Monday night seemed fairly good, as the Magic opened up a 27-point lead with just three minutes to go in the first half. But then everything came crumbling down, and the Celtics rallied behind Kevin Garnett and E’Twaun Moore, allowed just 25 second-half points by the Magic, and came back for a 91-83 victory.

Garnett had 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, four blocks, and three steals, filling the stat sheet in virtually every category, and Moore came off the bench to play 18 minutes and score 16 points for Boston, compiling a massive plus-27 number in his limited action. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 24 points.

Plus-minus has its flaws, too, such as showing Dwight Howard with a minus-25 for his play in a 16-point, 16-rebound outing. Howard was joined by every other Magic starter in double figures, but he was the only one to shoot 50 percent from the field. And Orlando, often reliant on the three-pointer, wasn’t very accurate from deep, making just five of 17 tries.

The Magic scored more points in each of their two quarters in the first half than they did in the entire second half; in fact, Orlando’s 58 points in the first half against the Celtics on Thursday were more than they scored in their full game against Boston on Monday, in an 87-56 loss that set a new franchise record for scoring futility.

For more on the Celtics, head to Celtics Blog; for more on the Magic, visit Orlando Pinstriped Post.

Read More: Kevin Garnett (F – BOS), Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics

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The Boston Celtics just might be on the verge of turning their young season around after their defeat of the Orlando Magic by the score of 91-83 on Thursday, January 26.

The win marks their third straight, and their second straight victory over the Magic. The Celtics improve to 8-9 on the season while Orlando drops to 12-6.

Coming into the game, Boston was riding the tail of their 87-56 blowout win over the Magic back on Monday, January 23. Orlando went on to defeat the Indiana Pacers the next day by the score of 102-83, but it was Boston’s first game since the Monday matchup. Surely, they hoped for a repeat performance.

The Celtics played without Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, and Jermaine O’Neal but still managed to defeat the Magic, due primarily to stellar play in the second half. Orlando was outscored 54-25 in the final two quarters, and held to just eight points in the fourth. Boston was outscored 58-37 in the first half.

Paul Pierce was the top performer for the Celtics scoring 24 points with six rebounds and 10 assists. Kevin Garnett had 12 points and 10 rebounds while E’Twaun Moore led the reserves with 16 points off the bench.

Dwight Howard was held to just 16 points but picked up 16 rebounds on the night. Jason Richardson scored 13 points while Ryan Anderson contributed 12 in Orlando’s losing effort.

Even without three starters, the Celtics were able to come from behind and pull out a win against one of the better teams in the league. Confidence is surely building amongst them that they are never out of a game regardless of who is unable to play and what opponent they are facing. The season may not be a wash after all regardless of what some fans feared after the rough start to the season.

It is great to see the Celtics never give up. After the first half it was questionable if they could pull it off. Their stellar defense won if for them in the second half, the fourth quarter especially.

Boston will face another tough opponent at home on Friday, January 27 when the Indiana Pacers come to town. If they keep the momentum going, this can be a winnable game for sure.

More Boston Celtics Commentary from this Contributor:

Boston Celtics embarrass Orlando Magic 87-56: A fan’s reaction

Boston Celtics, Paul Pierce defeat Washington Wizards: A fan’s reaction

Boston Celtics come up short, fall to Suns 79-71: A fan’s reaction

Boston Celtics end skid, defeat Raptors 96-73: A fan’s reaction

Boston Celtics need change, fast: A fan’s take

Sources:

All data provided by NBA.com

Paul Rados is an avid Boston Celtics fan and a Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @PSRados or leave him a message on Facebook. For a complete look at his freelance work please visit his Blog.

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Glen “Big Baby” Davis will be looking to screen Avery Bradley when the Magic face the Celtics tonight (Joshua C. Cruey, Orlando Sentinel)

Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley bedeviled the Orlando Magic when the Celtics humiliated the Orlando Magic 87-56 Monday night. Bradley applied pressure whenever Jameer Nelson brought the ball up the court and prevented the Magic from getting into their offense.

But Bradley better keep his head on a swivel tonight, because his former teammate, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, will be waiting to screen him.

“I’ve never seen a point guard dominate the game like that in a way to get us out of our offense and get some key steals,” Davis said after the Magic completed their shootaround today.

“So he’ll be seeing me today.”

Davis meant it only half-jokingly.

The Magic need to give Nelson some space to operate if Bradley attempts to apply the same kind of pressure, and screens by Davis could help get some distance between Nelson and Bradley.

“Avery is a great player,” Davis said later. “He most definitely is. His defensive game is unbelievable, the way he approaches the game defensively and the way he attacks. I’ve seen it. It’s just about him getting on the court and doing what he has to do.”

When the Magic acquired Davis in December, both General Manager Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy said Davis was one of the NBA’s best screeners.

Davis will have yet another opportunity to prove that tonight.

Follow Josh Robbins on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins and e-mail him at jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

Glen “Big Baby” Davis will be looking to screen Avery Bradley when the Magic face the Celtics tonight (Joshua C. Cruey, Orlando Sentinel)

Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley bedeviled the Orlando Magic when the Celtics humiliated the Orlando Magic 87-56 Monday night. Bradley applied pressure whenever Jameer Nelson brought the ball up the court and prevented the Magic from getting into their offense.

But Bradley better keep his head on a swivel tonight, because his former teammate, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, will be waiting to screen him.

“I’ve never seen a point guard dominate the game like that in a way to get us out of our offense and get some key steals,” Davis said after the Magic completed their shootaround today.

“So he’ll be seeing me today.”

Davis meant it only half-jokingly.

The Magic need to give Nelson some space to operate if Bradley attempts to apply the same kind of pressure, and screens by Davis could help get some distance between Nelson and Bradley.

“Avery is a great player,” Davis said later. “He most definitely is. His defensive game is unbelievable, the way he approaches the game defensively and the way he attacks. I’ve seen it. It’s just about him getting on the court and doing what he has to do.”

When the Magic acquired Davis in December, both General Manager Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy said Davis was one of the NBA’s best screeners.

Davis will have yet another opportunity to prove that tonight.

Follow Josh Robbins on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins and e-mail him at jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.