Shaquille O'Neal knows what it takes to compete with the best of the best in the NBA playoffs. The four-time NBA champion watched his former team, the Orlando Magic, suffer a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their first-round series on Sunday.

O'Neal offered a bleak outlook on the Magic's chances of defeating the defending champions in a seven-game series.

“Orlando will be lucky to win one game,” he said after Orlando's 103-86 defeat. “Listen, I love the Orlando Magic, I love the organization, but they are better at full strength. They're not at full strength. Their bench is not really that good. They don't have a lot of scorers. If Franz and Paolo are not doing most of the work, they don't have a shot. In the play-in game, Cole Anthony had a great game. So my question is: who's going to be the third scorer for them to do something?

“And then, on the Boston side, they understand what's at stake, they know what it takes. In the first half, they were lollygagging around. Then they turned the supreme focus on and blew this [Magic] team out. So I think it will either be a sweep or a gentleman's sweep.”

The Magic went into halftime with a 49-48 lead. However, they struggled to generate offense in the second half, scoring 37 points en route to a decisive loss.

Shaq outlines why he feels Magic have no chance to beat Celtics in first round

Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) controls the ball while Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) defends during the first half at TD Garden.
Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

Orlando's second-ranked defense powered them to the Eastern Conference's seventh seed. However, Jamahl Mosley's squad ranked 27th in offense during the regular season. With Jalen Suggs out sidelined by a knee injury, the Magic's lack of scoring outside of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner cost them a Game 1 upset.

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Banchero and Wagner scored 59 of Orlando's 89 points. The rest of the team shot a combined 10-of-26 (38.5 percent) from the field and 5-of-14 (35.7 percent) from three.

“I think we just had some stagnant possessions that led to their runouts, which led to some [of their] threes to open the lead up,” Banchero said. “I really gotta go back and watch the game to see what went wrong. It's Game 1. There's nerves. A lit crowd [that was] really loud. Not a total surprise that we struggled a little bit on offense, honestly.”

The Magic's guards are severely limited as shot creators to take pressure off Banchero and Wagner. Cole Anthony scored a team-high 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting in 20 minutes off the bench during Orlando's play-in win over the Atlanta Hawks. However, he saw a limited role in Game 1 vs. the Celtics, posting four points on 1-of-3 shooting in 10 minutes.

Cory Joseph went scoreless while attempting one shot in 26 minutes as Orlando's starting point guard. Anthony Black and Gary Harris both played 14 minutes off the bench. Black posted three points on 1-of-4 shooting, while Harris was scoreless on 0-of-2 shooting.

To make matters worse for the Magic, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown struggled during the Celtics' victory. The star duo combined for 33 points on 14-of-36 (38.9 percent) shooting from the field and 1-of-10 from three.

Tatum suffered an injury scare in the fourth quarter while falling on his right wrist after a flagrant foul by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. However, he finished the game and said X-rays came back clean.

Game 2 between Boston and Orlando is set for Wednesday at 7 PM EST.