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ORLANDO — It took six performs for Jayson Tatum and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to fulfill within the former’s return.
Tatum fell to flooring after the Celtics knocked the ball away from Cory Joseph and ripped it from Caldwell-Pope, rising to from the ground rapidly. He drew one other onerous foul early from the Magic ahead who injured him on Sunday and knocked him out for Recreation 2 with a tough foul. It was the primary of numerous occasions each groups crashed to the ground in a sport that featured over 40 fouls and 32 turnovers. The ultimate one, with Jaylen Brown out of the sport in foul hassle and Payton Pritchard dribbling into the paint down by 4 factors — the place Gary Harris stripped him.
Tatum returned on Sunday and began 7-of-12 within the first half, hit 3-of-7 from three and confirmed few seen limitations stemming from his proper wrist bone bruise. His eight straight factors late within the second quarter flipped Boston from down by two to forward by six. However the Celtics’ offense tailed off dramatically into the second half, slowed down by turnovers, harm by continued physicality from the Magic and falling 95-93 within the grittiest sport in latest reminiscence that till 10 p.m. following a tip-off simply after seven. Boston
Jaylen Brown additionally performed regardless of returning to the damage report on Friday afternoon along with his nagging knee ailment. Jrue Vacation didn’t play, arriving late and by no means warming up after struggling a proper hamstring pressure. Joe Mazzulla didn’t make clear earlier than the sport whether or not Vacation suffered it in Recreation 2, when he closed the ultimate 12 minutes showing fantastic in a robust efficiency.
In Recreation 3, the hits continued. Cole Anthony threw down Brown within the second, who landed awkwardly on his left hand and stayed down for a number of minutes. Anthony drew a flagrant one, the third such name on the Magic in three video games. Orlando fouled liberally, 11 occasions within the first half after committing 17 in Recreation 1 and 23 on Wednesday. Boston went forward by seven factors within the first quarter following Brown’s steal on Caldwell-Pope and breakout dunk, however the Celtics matched the Magic’s first six turnovers to maintain the sport shut. Orlando’s switching once more restricted Boston’s three-point possibilities. The Magic shot extra by halftime.
The Magic needed their very own replay when Luke Kornet hit Anthony Black onerous one play after Anthony’s flagrant, however the officers gave them none. Black appeared to knocked the ball off Brown and out-of-bounds, which prompted a Magic problem. Like early in Recreation 2, it backfired as officers noticed Black slap Brown’s arm and hit him with a 3rd foul whereas Boston stored possession. Black helped give the Magic a lead after the primary quarter with back-to-back steals pressuring Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard within the again court docket. Then, after a last-second full court docket cost by Anthony, Black snuck below the rim on the following in-bounds to attain two extra factors earlier than the buzzer.
Brown attacked mismatches to begin the brand new body, however turned the ball over twice with misplaced passes. He and Tatum each had 5 giveaways midway by the sport, and it prevented the Celtics from getting up their common variety of photographs. Tatum’s capturing barrage gave them a 10-point edge on the half, however Boston’s light utterly into the third, the place they scored 11 factors — their fewest in 1 / 4 below Joe Mazzulla and least since 2021.
The turnovers stored flowing. Brown dedicated an offensive foul inside early. Tatum traveled minutes later. Caldwell-Pope tried to knock the ball away from him after the decision, Tatum holding onto it and staring again at him. Buckets by Wendell Carter Jr., a pair from Paolo Banchero and a Franz Wagner three flipped the lead whereas Boston went scoreless on 11 of its first 13 possessions within the body.
Wagner’s free throws later within the third gave the Magic the lead that Carter constructed on with a pair of finishes, the second bodying Kornet out of the way in which for a put-back. Tatum quickly dedicated his seventh turnover, and whereas Anthony’s potential pull-away three on the finish of the quarter after back-to-back offensive rebounds turned a turnover, as a substitute, when he stepped out of bounds, the Magic stayed forward by three into the fourth.
There, Boston unraveled. Porzingis traveled. Brown drove into site visitors and a shot clock violation allowed Banchero to increase the Magic’s result in 11 with six straight factors attacking the basket. Brown, Al Horford and Tatum generated consecutive three-point performs to slash that benefit to a few in 52 seconds. However a pair of Horford fouls put the Magic within the bonus with 5 minutes left earlier than Brown picked up a fifth, giving Orlando 5 factors again and placing Brown on the bench.
The Magic used eight straight free throws to remain forward till Wagner scored their first area targets in practically six minutes with back-to-back performs attacking Porzingis downhill. Boston misplaced a problem on an out of bounds name then an inadvertent eight second name whereas the Celtics pressured Banchero at entrance court docket stole a final second probability for them. They obtained it after Wagner missed a 3 with one second left, however solely 0.3 remained and Orlando tipped away Derrick White’s in-bound tip try.
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