Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown is reaching his breaking point with the Orlando Magic and their constant over-the-top physicality.
Orlando’s clear-as-day scheme of trying to bridge the talent gap with Boston by attacking the health of its key players hasn’t rubbed Brown the right way. Jayson Tatum suffered a wrist injury in Game 1 and Kristaps Porzingis needed five stitches to heal a gruesome head injury in Game 2. It’s been an effective plan thus far, as the Magic have a chance to tie the series at 2-2 in Sunday night’s Game 4 battle. The Magic offered an unsurprising response when asked about Brown’s feelings: They don’t care.
“I’m gonna keep it a buck, gang. I don’t even really care,” Magic guard Cole Anthony told reporters, per CLNS Media. “We’re all here to hoop.”
Anthony continued: “We don’t play a non-contact game. I think we play a contact game so it’s a contact sport. You gotta be ready to be touched.”
The Celtics aren’t inexperienced in maneuvering around outdated defensive physicality. During last season’s playoffs, the Miami Heat executed the same strategy when forward Caleb Martin body-checked a defenseless Tatum, trying to secure a rebound. It got Brown chippy, but Boston still managed to dust its hands off after making easy work of Miami with a series win in five games.
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Now encountering a sense of déjà vu, this time against the Magic, Brown is even more vocal. The 28-year-old isn’t just calling out Orlando, he’s challenging the entire team with a message that proves Brown is willing to stoop to its level if that’s what it takes.
Boston’s Al Horford got tripped up in Game 3 by Orlando’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, which sparked a mini shouting match between both teams. Nothing came of it, but the boiling irritation could signal what demeanor the Celtics will carry themselves with as they aim to hop back in the driver’s seat with a 3-1 series lead.
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“I don’t know. There might be a fight breakout or something,” Brown said after Game 3, per CLNS Media. “It’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball and the refs aren’t even controlling the environment. So it is what it is. If we want to fight it, we want to fight it out, we can do that. We can fight to see who goes to the second round.”
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla isn’t shy of embracing the challenge — any challenge — that comes along the journey of pursuing a championship. When Tatum hit the deck and grabbed his wrist, Mazzulla held back Boston’s trainer from assisting and instead yelled, “Get up,” from the sidelines. When Porzingis leaked blood in Game 2, Mazzulla afterward claimed he enjoyed watching him bleed because “it’s important.”
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It’s unusual, it’s psychotic, but it’s also unifying for Boston’s locker room. The Celtics just need to apply their anger, even though the Magic continue to hide their hand in desperation of clawing back in the series.
“It’s playoff basketball. It’s going to be physical, and we expect that,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said Saturday, per CLNS Media. “So that’s part of what we know a playoff series is. It’s a physical basketball game.”
Boston, historically, has gone 43-1 when winning the first two games of a playoff series and Sunday night could be a huge step toward notching No. 44.
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