ORLANDO — Following the Orlando Magic’s 111-107 loss to Boston Celtics on Sunday night, a disquieted Jamahl Mosley continued to utter the same words: 

“17 turns for 29 points.” 

To Mosley, those turnovers made the difference in a tightly contested game that featured 19 lead changes and 10 ties. 

“That was it right there. That's the ball game,” he added. “You know, we had a lot of defensive lapses in there. You know, Simons gets going. We point switch at the end. keeping bodies on bodies was key.” 

While Simons — the Altamonte Springs, Fla. native — made his mark with 25 points on 61 percent shooting, his presence was not the main theme in Orlando’s loss. 

“17 turns for 29 points,” Mosley repeated. “Not gonna get too many of those games.” 

After beating the Celtics on Friday night to open the NBA Cup with a victory, the Magic looked poised to replicate the same disciplined and productive level of play by mounting an early 12-point lead on Sunday. Orlando was able to log 10 assists while only allowing three turnovers in the first quarter, but the efficiency quickly vanished. 

Boston began to trap and utilize more aggressive on-ball coverage, forcing the Magic to fall victim to mistakes which led to three assists and seven turnovers by the end of the second quarter and the game tied at 54. 

“Don't play in a crowd,” Mosley said. “You put two on the ball, move it. The game tells you what to do. The game will always tell you what to do.” 

“There's two people on the basketball, move it. When you're open, shoot it. It's a very simple play.” 

The ball movement never returned to form as Orlando only managed to generate eight assists in the second half. The struggles caused by failing to take care of the ball were compounded by shooting 23.3 percent from the perimeter, and while the Magic continue to adapt to a faster-paced offense, Mosley refused to attribute the turnover troubles to up-tempo efforts. 

“I'm gonna tell you right now, it's not the pace. We can play slow, we can play fast. When you play in a crowd, it's gonna be a turnover.”  

“I don't care if I'm playing fast or I'm playing slow. If I play in a crowd, I'm turning it over! Move it.” 

Jalen Suggs, who logged a season-high 28:39 in his gradual return from arthroscopic knee surgery, emphasized the difficulties the turnovers created in pursuit of the right reads. 

“It was tough,” Suggs said. “I think a lot of them happened early and a lot of them were us trying to make the right play.” 

Suggs contributed 20 points, and his plus-21 rating was the highest of anyone who stepped on the floor. 

Paolo Banchero echoed the frustrations of Mosley and Suggs. 

“Yeah, that definitely hurt,” Banchero said. “17 turnovers. Boston did a great job of converting on those turnovers. They're a very experienced team and you can't give them the ball that many times and they made us pay.” 

Banchero led the team with 28 points, 14 of which he scored in the fourth quarter. However, he also logged a team-high six turnovers. 

“I feel like I've been doing a good job taking care of the ball this year. So just got to get back to that; tonight was uncharacteristic.” 

The loss comes on the first night of a back-to-back for the Magic, who are set to host the Portland Trailblazers on Monday at 7 p.m. Currently, Portland leads the league in steals per game (11.2). 

“You know, they kicked our ass both games last year,” Banchero added. “So we better be ready to play.”