ORLANDO, Fla. – On paper, what happened Monday night made no sense.

Without Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Moe Wagner, how on earth did the Orlando Magic defeat the defending champion Boston Celtics 108-104?

Of course, Jayson Tatum’s suspension because he didn’t have COVID-19 played a role. The home advantage was helpful. An unusually hot evening of filming 3 made a big difference.

But all of this still doesn’t fully explain what happened. Something is going on in Orlando, and has been for some time. Perhaps no team in the NBA this season has the incredible intangibles that the Magic have. They have created a team that – even without Banchero and the Wagner brothers – is far more than the sum of its parts.

“We had complete trust in each other,” Jalen Suggs said.

“We just got buddy, man,” Cole Anthony said. “It doesn’t really need to be explained.”

Actually, what the magic does does have to be explained. A widely accepted NBA wisdom is that a team playing without its best player can win every single game, but will struggle in the long run. The Magic, now 19-12, have defied that wisdom. They thrived after Banchero tore his oblique muscle in late October. They are 3-3 since Franz Wagner tore his hamstring on December 6th. And in their first full game without Moe Wagner, an NBA Sixth Man of the Year candidate, they rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to stun the Celtics.

Even without Tatum, Boston’s Monday starting five of Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Al Horford, Kristaps Porziņģis and Jaylen Brown is an excellent group.

Orlando, on the other hand, started two-way contract player Trevelin Queen, who had never started an NBA regular season game before, and 23-year-old rookie Tristan da Silva, as well as Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Goga Bitadze.

Queen scored 17 points, throwing a pass to da Silva in the left corner with Orlando holding a one-point lead with 12 seconds left. Da Silva raised and hit a three-pointer to guarantee the win.

The previous two days had been a roller coaster ride. On Saturday, Moe Wagner suffered a knee injury and the Magic, trailing by 22 points at the end of the third quarter, battled through the Miami Heat, outscoring the Heat 37-8 in the final quarter. On Sunday, an MRI confirmed that Wagner had torn his cruciate ligament and would be out for the rest of the season.

“I feel like it shows the strength of this group, the togetherness, how much everyone loves each other and just going out and doing it for each other,” da Silva said. “Moe went down last game, so I feel like it was great to go out there and bring that energy like he always does.”

There is a school of thought that the Magic, with their defensive scheme and position size, can actually compete better against the Celtics than they can against the New York Knicks or Cleveland Cavaliers. Boston entered Monday leading the league in 3-point attempts per game with 51.0. However, Orlando led the way in fewest 3-point attempts per game with 31.8.

On Monday, Orlando limited Boston to 8 of 33 shots from long range.

“We followed the game plan that the coaches had for us,” Caldwell-Pope said. “Take the 3 away from them. Take away the transition (opportunities). And try to take away easy baskets and force them into hard twos.”

Brown scored a game-high 35 points.

“It was a physical game,” Brown said. “Give Orlando credit. We should have done the physicality a little better. I think it’s a good preparation game. Things didn’t go our way. We felt like the officials were one-sided, so I think that was good for us. I think we need to see this more. Get more used to it and become more comfortable with that environment.”

Perhaps no one has more accurately described the essence of the Magic than SiriusXM NBA Radio host Rob Perez, who tweeted Monday night: “There’s always that one guy in the park who goes way too hard and makes random pick-up plays like life or Death treated. “The Orlando Magic are five of these people for 48 minutes every night.”

That’s right.

“I think it’s natural,” Bitadze said. “I mean, we have guys that just enjoy playing defense and are just naturally talented. When we play defense, we’re a couple of idiots.”

The first person Magic players usually blame for their team’s success is their coach, Jamahl Mosley.

Mosley finished second in NBA Coach of the Year voting last season, trailing only Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault. But so far this year, Mosley’s case is stronger because of the injuries to Banchero and the Wagners. Perhaps Mosley’s greatest achievement this season is that he has convinced his team that they can overcome almost any adversity.

“This is who we are,” Mosley said after Monday’s win. “I never tire of saying this, and I don’t want them to act surprised. We talk about the faith you have to have, the work ethic you have to have, the togetherness we have. This is this group. I don’t think there’s any other way to put it. I think they showed that. They prove that again and again. And they believe it.”

It all sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

The Magic are not without their faults. They will need Banchero back relatively soon to stay in fourth place in the East. The return of Franz Wagner will also be crucial. But even with Banchero and the younger Wagner, Orlando still has a hard time shooting 3s. And like many young teams, the Magic still need to improve on the road (7-10).

But watch them a few games in a row and any skepticism about their intangibles will disappear.

In the Magic’s locker room after the game, I asked second-year guard Anthony Black, another big defensive star, how he would describe his team to basketball fans who hadn’t yet seen the Magic.

Black paused for a moment.

“Just a young, hungry group that’s really deep,” Black replied. “We have a lot of people right now who are ready to step up, a lot of young people who are not afraid of the big teams or the big stage. A fearless young group that trusts each other. We just fight for each other.”

Da Silva sat down on a chair next to a locker.

Black turned to his buddy and asked, “How would you describe this group, Tristan?”

“In a word?” said da Silva. “Cohesive.”

That’s exactly right.

(Photo of Jaylen Brown and Jalen Suggs: Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images)