It took one game for the Boston Celtics to face a new form of adversity in the 2025 NBA Playoffs. After suffering a wrist injury on a hard foul in Game 1 of their first round playoff series against the Orlando Magic, Jayson Tatum was ruled out for Game 2 of the series on Wednesday night with a bone bruise in his shooting wrist. Absent their franchise player, the Celtics found themselves in another (sometimes literal) slugfest, but advanced to 2-0 in the first round series with a 109-100 win.
In Tatum’s stead, Jaylen Brown had a massive night, scoring 36 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing five assists and connecting on five of his seven three-point attempts. Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points and took center stage on some second half theatrics, while Derrick White and Payton Pritchard combined for 31. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner combined for 55 points, but outside of Wendell Carter Jr’s 16, few other players made an impact for the Magic.
In the early minutes, Brown assumed the mantle of Batman for this Celtics’ offense, scoring seven points to lead the team in the early stretch of the game. Despite his hot start, though, this game hewed to Orlando’s preferences in terms of tone. The first quarter was a physical, defensive showdown, with players hitting the floor on multiple possessions. Despite shooting just 26% from the field, however, the Celtics asserted themselves on the offensive glass (four OREBs) and the free throw line (9-of-10), and took a two-point lead into the second quarter, 23-21.
After a fiery media cycle in the aftermath of Tatum’s injury, words were exchanged by Al Horford and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the following days regarding the intent of the play. Those tensions carried over to Game 2, and flared in the second quarter, when Horford and Caldwell-Pope appeared to get tied up and hit the floor. Horford arose quickly and appeared to take issue with Caldwell-Pope’s actions, and Brown stepped in and exchanged a few heated words with Caldwell-Pope before the exchange was broken up. The play came under replay review, but was ultimately ruled a common foul on Caldwell-Pope.
Otherwise, the Celtics never quite pulled the game out of Orlando’s comfort zone in the second quarter. Their offense found a bit more of a rhythm, but the Magic continued to hang around behind favorable pace and timely defensive plays. The Celtics led by as many as eight points, but ultimately took just a three-point advantage into the halftime break, 50-47.
Boston opened the third quarter on a heater, finding their stroke from three-point range for the first time this evening and kicking off the second half with an 11-2 run that featured back-to-back threes from Brown. Orlando initially responded with a mini-run of their own, forcing Mazzulla to call timeout after a three from Banchero near the midpoint of the quarter, but as the quarter wore on, the game increasingly tilted in the Celtics’ favor. They started to break through the Magic’s defense and get to the rim with authority, pulling ahead by as many as 15 points.
Late in the third quarter, the Celtics suffered another injury at the hands of Orlando’s much-vaunted physicality. Orlando center Goga Bitadze flailed his limbs on a rebound attempt and swung his elbow into the forehead of Porzingis, who went down bleeding profusely. Porzingis left the court briefly, only to return with a (comically large) bandage on his forehead and a (comically large) smile on his face, shooting the ensuing flagrant free throws before returning to the locker room for further treatment. The Celtics took an 81-71 lead into the final quarter of regulation.
Porzingis remained absent as the game entered the fourth quarter, but after about five minutes of mostly neutral basketball, he returned the Celtics’ bench sporting another (notably smaller) forehead bandage. He returned to the court with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation, with the Celtics hanging onto an eight-point lead.
Porzingis played the remained of the game, but it was a mostly ceremonial affair, as the Magic never quite seemed to be much of a threat to reclaim the lead. The lead held around 10 to 12 points for much of the quarter, and with just under three minutes to play, Pritchard finished an assertive layup and drew a foul for the opportunity for a three-point play. Pritchard missed the freebie, but it felt like the play that took the air out of the room for Orlando.
Next up, the Celtics will look to extend their series lead to 3-0 on the road in Orlando, facing the Magic for Game 3 this Friday on ESPN.
