ORLANDO — As the Celtics and Magic met for another physical, gritty game, the defending champs picked up another bruise along the way. In Game 1, it was Jayson Tatum’s bone bruise in his right wrist. In Game 2, Kristaps Porzingis needed five stitches after getting an elbow to the head.
Now, after the Celtics lost to the Magic in Game 3, Brown said he dislocated his left index finger following a Cole Anthony flagrant foul. All three of those injuries, cuts or whatever resulted in flagrant fouls assessed on the Magic. So, naturally, there was some frustration from Brown afterwards, calling out the Magic and the referees.
“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,” Brown said. “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.”
While the series was expected to be a grind — especially against a gritty, young Magic squad — the physicality seemingly went up another level in Game 3 on Friday. The Celtics struggled with it for the majority of the second half, watching their 10-point halftime lead disappear in a matter of minutes. While the C’s forced a close game late, turnovers and execution issues doomed them in their first loss of the playoffs. Boston now leads Orlando 2-1 in the first-round series.
Brown finished the Game 3 loss with 19 points and six rebounds, though he also had six turnovers. Brown was questionable heading into Friday’s game due to the bothersome right knee injury that’s slowed him down for the past month. The C’s also just didn’t respond to the Magic’s physicality well as they finished with 21 turnovers. Brown also added that he disagreed with some calls from the game.
“I don’t have a problem with the game being physical, but it seems like when I use my physicality, I get called in the opposite direction,” Brown said. “That’s what my frustration was. It was just a tough whistle tonight. Maybe next game will be better, but it started in the third quarter with those two offensive fouls. I feel like the physicality, you are allowing guys to hand check and let it go on both sides then. Other than that, it was just a tough whistle for me tonight and we just got to be ready for Game 4.”
The Celtics will look to regroup after falling on the road. Brown and Tatum both played through injuries despite being listed on the injury report ahead of the game. Notably, Tatum’s wrist looked fine as he put up 36 points in his first game back since the bone bruise. He went from doubtful to questionable to available pregame, going through warmups then looking like his All-Star self.
The series won’t be going anywhere as the Magic took a win off the defending champs. Orlando is also going to look to muck up the game again, just as it has done in every single game of this series. So that’s where the Celtics will look to respond for Game 4, set for 7 p.m. Sunday at the Kia Center.
“I don’t have a problem with it but don’t call an offensive foul when a dude is trying to jump on my back or whatever the case may be,” Brown said. “Let it go. If you are going to let it go on defense, let it go on offense, too. Just a tough whistle tonight. Orlando played well, so we’ll be ready for Game 4. We had every opportunity to win this game and we came up short, but we’ll be ready for the next one.”
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