Celtics need to fight … any urge to retaliate against Magic

Celtics need to fight … any urge to retaliate against Magic originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jaylen Brown is fed up. It’s hard to blame him.

The Orlando Magic have injured three Boston players with three flagrant fouls through three postseason games. Jayson Tatum bruised his wrist after Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s hard foul took him to the floor in Game 1, Kristaps Porzingis needed five stitches after Goga Bitadze’s elbow split his forehead in Game 2, and Brown dislocated a finger after an excessive foul by Cole Anthony early in Game 3.

Once is chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern. Now Brown is wondering out loud if the Celtics will be forced to match Orlando’s energy in this series.

“There might be a fight break out or something,” Brown said after Boston’s Game 3 loss in Orlando. “Because it’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball, and the refs are not controlling the environment. 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 we are largely unopposed to this first-round matchup turning into WrestleMania, it should be stressed that it is not in Boston’s best interest to get dragged into Orlando’s shenanigans. The Magic are using increased physicality to mask an obvious talent discrepancy, and the Celtics would only be playing into Orlando’s hands to allow its antics to sap their focus.

So, as much as Celtics fans might like to see Torrey Craig dispatched to drop an Orlando player, it’s unlikely to solve what’s truly keeping the Magic in this series.

The Celtics need to fight. They need to fight for better shots. They need to fight to protect the basketball and maximize possessions. And they need to fight the urge to retaliate.

Orlando’s length and physicality has absolutely bothered Boston. The Celtics owned the third-best half-court offense in the NBA during the regular season, generating 104.1 points per 100 possessions against a set defense. But Boston’s efficiency has plummeted against Orlando, dipping to 93.1 points per 100 possessions in the half court through three games.

Too often the Celtics have allowed Orlando to get back and get set. The Magic have done a better job than just about any team this season running the Celtics off the 3-point line, and Boston’s offense has gotten frustrated while settling for poor late-clock shot attempts.

The third quarter on Friday night might have been the Celtics’ most atrocious frame of the season. Boston misfired on 14 of its 17 shot attempts while scoring just 11 points. After Tatum’s 3-pointer early in the frame, the Celtics went nearly seven minutes without a field goal, all with its starters on the floor.

Boston turned the ball over six times in the frame and watched its double-digit lead morph into a six-point deficit heading to the fourth quarter.

The Magic sent multiple crashers at the glass chasing offensive rebounds. Not only did they win Joe Mazzulla’s beloved shot margin (83 attempts to Boston’s 74) because of it, but the Celtics never made them pay by pushing in transition and looking for easy buckets against a scrambling defense.

Boston generated just 78.8 points per 100 possessions in the half-court, per Cleaning the Glass data. Impossibly, Orlando was even worse (76.2), but utilized offensive rebounds to mask some of its woes.

The Celtics turned the ball over a staggering 21 times overall, leading to 26 points. Orlando generated nearly 28 percent of its total offensive output on Boston giveaways. The Celtics ranked second in the NBA in turnover rate during the regular season (12.2 percent) but that number has spiked to 16.1 percent of possessions in the postseason.

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If you want to throw the spin control on Game 3, it would be easy to note that Tatum looked excellent after starting the day as doubtful on the injury report. Porzingis turned in a total dud, admitting his shot is “janky” at the moment and using an expletive to describe his overall performance. A bench group led by Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser had a nightmare offensive game as well.

And the Celtics still had a chance to force overtime on the final possession.

A fight isn’t going to do these Celtics any good. Regaining some focus, getting back to Celtics basketball, and getting this series over quick is the better path. Let Orlando take its physicality to a beach in Cancun.

The only thing that can prolong this series is Boston getting sucked into a wrestling match. The Celtics can be appropriately physical, but there’s a fine line to walk, especially when the referees are on high alert now.

Yes, the only thing Boston needs to fight is its urge to retaliate.