Boston Celtics expertly navigate Magic’s physicality in 1st round win

BOSTON — As the Celtics and Magic scrapped through every game of the first-round series, a lot was made about Orlando’s physicality. The second-rated defense prided itself on mucking up the game, and the Magic succeeded by making life difficult for the C’s.

But by the end of the series, as the Celtics prevailed 4-1 after a blowout Game 5 win, Boston coach Joe Mazzulla put it best: “They had to deal with our physicality, as well.” So even though the Magic were gritty through the five games, the Celtics ultimately didn’t let it bother them. Al Horford said they always knew the goal: Win.

“We are a physical team,” Horford said. “We don’t put that emphasis as much as they do, but that’s kind of what we do. And we just took their shots, stayed with it and our focus was always on winning the games. So even in those heated moments throughout, we knew where our eyes were — and it wasn’t about a fake scuffle in the NBA. It was about winning the game."

There were testy moments throughout the series where, like Horford said, some pushing and shoving happened after hard fouls. But that’s the norm across the playoffs; the stakes and emotions are at their highest. Look no further than other series across the league where technical and flagrant fouls are thrown around.

So even though the Magic fouled the Celtics hard, leading to a flagrant foul called on them in each of the first three games, the defending champions never let it affect them too much. Jaylen Brown vented about the Magic’s physicality and the referees after Game 3, but part of his message was that if the Magic wanted a fight, the Celtics were going to be ready for it.

“Orlando did a good job of trying to make us play a different style of ball, and I think we adjusted to that well,” Brown said. “We didn’t shoot a lot of 3s in this whole entire series and yet, still, win games in the trenches. So I think it was a great challenge for us, and I think it was a great step for us moving forward and a series that we can learn from.”

The Celtics are on a different timeline compared to the young Magic, who just went through their second playoffs with their young core of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. But as the C’s said, give that young, scrappy team their credit. They made the Celtics work, taking away the trusty 3-pointer, over the course of the series. The C’s are better and they showed that, adapting their play to each game to ensure they didn’t prolong the series longer than they needed.

So now, the Celtics are onto the second round for the fourth straight season, along with the eighth time in the last nine years. They’ll play either the Knicks or Pistons as that’s the lone first-round series still ongoing in the East. In the meantime, they’ll rest up as they picked up some bruises and shots from the gritty series.

“We’re very talented,” Jayson Tatum said. “We can win in a bunch of different ways. They kind went to the extreme really trying to take our 3s away, switching everything, basically inching out, not helping. So it was tough just from an assist and playmaking standpoint, there just weren’t really opportunities, but they were just leaving guys on the island. So just whatever the game called for.”

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