Jaylen Brown’s tone was even and measured.
But his words were angry. The Celtics are tired of the Orlando Magic’s physical tactics that have straddled the line of legality.
After Friday night’s 95-93 loss, Brown said the Celtics were ready to do something about it.
“It’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball. The refs are not controlling the environment,” said Brown, who said he dislocated a finger in the game. “If you want to fight it out. We can do that. We’ll fight to see who goes to the second round.”
In Games 1 and 2, the Celtics largely brushed off Orlando’s attempts to drag down the caliber of play. It was easy to absorb the hard fouls and physical play as desperate when they were winning. Boston was content to box, sticking and moving, while the Magic wildly attempted knockout punches, hoping to drag the series into a slugfest.
But after Saturday’s loss, Boston seemed to hit its boiling point. The Magic was called for its third flagrant foul of the series and that was hardly the only play that got under Brown’s skin.
“We’re supposed to be playing basketball,” he said. “That’s what it’s about, playing basketball, getting up and down. The flagrant fouls are piling up.”
Nobody likes being pushed around. Human nature is going to make the Celtics want to hit back and answer with physical play of their own. That’s a good idea in the right dosage. But it can’t be about a public display of machismo. Overdoing it will play right into Orlando’s hands.
UFC-fan Joe Mazzulla loves basketball this way. He wishes he could be part of the rough stuff. But he’s got to control the chessboard. The Celtics can’t be trading queens for rooks. Brown might be angry and a plenty capable scrapper, but Boston can’t afford to lose him.
This isn’t the 1980s, where Kevin McHale could clothesline Kurt Rambis or Robert Parish could punch Bill Laimbeer and stay in the game, while Johnny Most lost his mind. In 2025, there are consequences to crossing the line. If the Celtics want to send a message, they better be smart about it.
“We just have to get up — Isn’t that what Joe told me? Protect yourself, and just focus on the next play,” Tatum said. “Just compete and play at a high level. It’s the playoffs (stuff) happens from time to time.”
Yes, the Celtics lost a game they could have won to a team they should have beaten. And they’re not going to sweep a series they really should’ve swept.
None of that is good. But it’s not a reason to overreact either.
The Celtics didn’t shoot terribly well. They turned the ball over way too often and gave up far too many offensive rebounds. Jrue Holiday was injured. Payton Pritchard quiet, Sam Hauser has been invisible and Kristaps Porzingis was lousy.
The third quarter was one of their worst of the season. And they still lost by just two points.
The good news — really good news — is that Jayson Tatum seems fine. He had 36 points and played 39 minutes and didn’t show any real indications that he was struggling from the bone bruise he suffered from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s flagrant foul in Game 1.
Tatum was aggressive going to the basketball and made long 3-pointers. Both aren’t easy to do for someone hiding pain. His seven turnovers weren’t good, but anyone watching the game without knowing he’d been hurt wouldn’t have guessed.
The Magic were so excited to win one game that they released confetti from the rafters during the postgame celebration. But now they’re hungry for more.
Expect the Magic to try to push Boston’s buttons early in Game 4 to see just how much they can milk out of Boston’s anger. If the Celtics can hold their focus and shake off just one bad game, they can go back to Boston one win away from advancing. If not, they could be in some trouble.
“We’ll be ready for Game 4,” Brown said. “We had every opportunity to win this game and we came up short, but we’ll be ready for the next one.”
