‘There might be a fight’: Flagrant fouls, injuries mount in Celtics-Magic

ORLANDO The Magic s plan to beat the defending champion Celtics has been to well beat them Rough them up Play with extreme physicality Test the boundaries of legal play then step over them at times knowing bureaucrats are more likely to keep their whistles holstered during the playoffs Boston with its superior talent depth and experience remains the clear favorite to dispatch seventh-seeded Orlando and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals But the muck-it-up Magic are making sure the Celtics leave the first-round series bruised and bloodied regardless of the final effect 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 conditions Jaylen Brown commented after Orlando took Battle on Friday night at the Kia Center surviving a fourth-quarter Celtics rally to win a - rock fight 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 Brown s comments came hours after Magic guard Cole Anthony yanked his elbow on a shot attempt causing the Celtics star to tumble to the floor and Brown mentioned dislocate his left index finger Anthony was called for a Flagrant foul on the play Orlando has committed one of those in each of the first three games of this - series and all three resulted in injuries to Celtics players The first a midair hard foul on Jayson Tatum by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left Tatum with a bone bruise in his shooting wrist that kept him out of Contest The second was a wild elbow from Goga Bitadze that opened a gash on Kristaps Porzingis forehead requiring five stitches to close Beyond the fouls that were called Brown also assumed the Magic got away with a lot in Friday s battle A contest at the rim left Luke Kornet with a bloody nose and Derrick White went crashing into the Celtics bench during a late-game clash with Wendell Carter Jr If you get away with it I would do it too Brown mentioned That definitely affected us but we ll be ready for Tournament Carter also mauled Porzingis under the basket as time expired preventing the Celtics center from leaping as he tried for what would have been a game-tying tip-in I mean they re just borderline fouling That s what it is Borderline fouling and fouling Porzingis disclosed referring to Orlando s overall approach Certain of it they call it of lesson and specific 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 tactics It is a pretty big difference from the regular season You have to make that adjustment as a sportsman and not expect anything You just go out there and play through contact play through it Related Articles Kristaps Porzingis admits he played like expletive in Celtics Competition loss Turnover-prone Celtics rally late but fall to Magic in physical Challenge Jayson Tatum returns for Battle vs Magic but Celtics still shorthanded Celtics add Jaylen Brown to injury statement ahead of Battle vs Magic Celtics preparing for realizable Battle absences with three starters banged up As Brown noted Orlando s aggression had the desired effect in Championship The Celtics committed their the bulk turnovers in any tournament this season and attempted their fewest -pointers -for- blunting the majority dangerous weapon in their offensive arsenal They were outworked on the glass too with Orlando owning a - edge in offensive rebounds Brown who played minutes Friday after being listed as questionable with a knee injury also inferred he was on the wrong end of an unfair whistle in the loss specifically pointing to his two offensive fouls during a nightmare third quarter for Boston I don t have a complication with the contest being physical but it seems like when I use my physicality I get called in the opposite direction Brown mentioned That s what my frustration was It was just a tough whistle tonight Maybe next match will be better but it started in the third quarter with those two offensive fouls I feel like the physicality if you are allowing guys to hand check let it go on both sides then Other than that it was just a tough whistle for me tonight and we ve just got to be ready for Challenge The Celtics who were playing without starting guard and defensive stalwart Jrue Holiday hamstring were outscored - in the third quarter while recording more turnovers five than made field goals -for- That Boston had a chance to win despite all of those factors spoke to the inefficiency of Orlando s offense which has yet to sum more than points in the series despite getting three straight strong outings from headliners Paolo Banchero points in Contest and Franz Wagner points I don t have a complication with the physicality Brown reiterated but don t call an offensive foul when a dude is trying to jump on my back or whatever the incident may be 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 Match We had every opportunity to win this meeting and we came up short but we ll be ready for the next one The best response to that physicality Responding with force Brown commented Meeting your line Playing our basketball That s the key We know how good we are and what we can do but we ve just got to fight We ve got to meet the line meet the level next championship And we ll be more prepared Encounter is Sunday night in Orlando with Event following on Tuesday at TD Garden