ORLANDO, Fla. — In Game 1, a flagrant foul by the Magic sent Jayson Tatum crashing to the court, injuring the Celtics superstar’s right wrist and forcing him to miss the first game of his playoff career.
In Game 2, another flagrant foul by the Magic split open Kristaps Porzingis’ forehead, requiring five stitches to close the Celtics center’s bloody wound.
In the Magic’s thrilling 95-93, Game 3 win Friday night, another flagrant foul by Orlando swung Jaylen Brown to the ground, where the star swingman writhed in pain with a dislocated index finger on his left hand.
Through three games of this first-round series, the seventh-seeded Magic have displayed a physical style of basketball that the defending champion Celtics say they believe is over the line.
“There might be a fight break out or something because it’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball, and the refs are not controlling their environment,” said Brown, the 2024 Finals MVP, who finished with 19 points Friday. “So it is what it is. If you want to fight it out, we can do that. We can fight to see who goes to the second round.”
Added Porzingis, who had seven points on 3-of-10 shooting: “I mean, they’re just borderline fouling. That’s what it is. Borderline fouling and fouling, and some of it, [the referees] call it, of course, and some of it they don’t, and that’s how it’s going to be. We have to accept the reality — and also, we can use that. It’s not that there’s only one way; it’s both ways.”
The second-seeded Celtics lead the series 2-1, with Game 4 slated for Sunday in Orlando. But Friday proved again that the Magic’s physicality has bothered the Celtics.
Boston tied its season high with 21 turnovers, which led to 26 points for Orlando. The Celtics made just nine 3-pointers, two shy of their season low, on a season-low 27 attempts. After leading by 10 at halftime, the Celtics scored 11 points in a game-changing third quarter, their fewest in any quarter this season.
The game was a slog overall, with 43 fouls and 35 turnovers. Franz Wagner led the Magic with 32 points, and Paolo Banchero added 29.
Boston entered the day unclear if Tatum, its leading scorer, even would play. He was listed as doubtful with what Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said was a “severe” bone bruise in his right wrist — a term he said Friday was appropriate because the injury forced Tatum to miss Game 2.
But Tatum went through warmups and returned to the starting lineup with a protective wrap on the wrist. He appeared unaffected, finishing with a game-high 36 points on 10-of-22 shooting to go along with making all 12 of his free throw attempts and grabbing nine rebounds.
“Just dealing with pain tolerance,” Tatum said of his performance. “The treatment and stuff has been progressing every day, and I felt like I could try to go out there and play.”
Asked about Orlando’s physicality and what Boston could do moving forward, Tatum added: “Just get up. Ain’t that what Joe [Mazzulla] told me? Get up. Move on to the next play. Protect yourself and just focus on the game.”
Tatum was referring to Mazzulla initially yelling “Get up!” at him when he was flagrantly fouled by Orlando’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in Game 1. Tatum remained on the court after the foul, clutching his right wrist.
“I wasn’t trippin’,” Tatum said of Mazzulla’s remark. “I wanted to get up; that s— was just a lot worse than Joe thought it was. It’s cool. We move on and just get ready for the next game.”
Earlier in the day, Brown was listed as questionable with what the team said was a right knee posterior impingement. The Celtics upgraded Brown to available before tipoff. After the game, Brown revealed the dislocation to his left index finger, which occurred with 10:45 left in the second quarter when he got tangled up with Magic guard Cole Anthony.
“I fell on it,” Brown said. “Dislocated my index finger. But I’ve got nine more, so I’m all right.”
Brown added of the Magic: “They got away with a lot. So if you get away with it, I would do it too. That definitely affected us, but we’ll be ready for Game 4.”
The Celtics were also without starting guard Jrue Holiday, who sat with a right hamstring strain.
That these games have been physical and low-scoring for the Celtics mirrors some of the regular-season matchups. In the regular season, the Celtics made a league-leading 17.8 3-pointers per game but averaged just 10.7 against the Magic, their fewest versus any team. The Magic led the NBA in scoring defense (105.5 PPG), and their length and switching defense has flustered Boston.
And though the Celtics were 33-8 on the road in the regular season, they fell to 0-3 in Orlando.
“They obviously upped their ball pressure at the point of attack — full court and half court,” Mazzulla said. “They didn’t accept switches as easy. So I would say you have to give credit to them for their defensive physicality, but we also had some [plays] that we have to be better at.”
Orlando won the regular-season series against Boston 2-1, holding the Celtics to their fewest points per game and lowest 3-point field goal percentage of any Eastern Conference team, according to ESPN Research. Tatum didn’t play in two of the three matchups.
“They’re being aggressive, being handsy, just creating a little bit of chaos,” Porzingis said. “We have to also bring our game and our physicality. That’s what teams need to do to compete with us. They got us tonight, but we’ll bounce back.”
