At least one player on the Celtics suffered a minor injury in each of the team’s three playoff games against the Magic so far. As Souichi Terada of MassLive writes, in Game 1 it was Jayson Tatum who suffered a bone bruise in his right wrist that is impacting his availability in the series. In Game 2, Kristaps Porzingis received stitches after a cut on his head and in Game 3, Jaylen Brown said he dislocated his finger.
Brown said his injury came after a flagrant foul from Cole Anthony, leaving the All-Star frustrated after Game 3.
“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.”
As Terada observes, the series against Orlando was expected to be physical, but it was taken up another level in Game 3 on the Magic’s home court. Turnovers and poor execution led to the Celtics losing their first game of the series, still maintaining a 2-1 lead.
“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 two teams square off again on Sunday evening. Tatum missed Game 2 with his injury but was able to come back for Game 3. Jrue Holiday missed his first game as a Celtic in Game 3 due to a hamstring strain.