Early in the second quarter in Game 3 on Friday, Jaylen Brown caught the ball in rotation along the 3-point line, beat Cole Anthony off the dribble and seemingly had a clear path to the basket.
Anthony did what any player would do in desperation during a playoff game, with a clear rule not to give up any dunks or layups if possible. He grabbed Brown's arm and pulled down, sending Brown to the floor.
In many ways, this is a hard playoff foul. The kind of play you expect in a matchup with such tight margins and two strong defensive teams. It was upgraded to a flagrant foul for the wind-up and follow-through.
Brown needed a moment to collect himself and flex his wrist. He said after the game that he dislocated a finger on the play.
Even after the Celtics' 95-93 loss in Game 3, the play was still on their mind. As was the physical beating they took in that game, knocking them completely off rhythm and out of their offense. The Magic have been trying to muddy the games throughout this series, they finally got one in their favor.
Boston is unenthused about how physical this series has become.
"There might be a fight break out or something because it is starting to feel like it is not even basketball, and the refs are not controlling the environment," Brown said after Game 3. "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."
Ready to get rough
It indeed feels like the series is heading in that direction. As much as the Boston Celtics are trying to get out of this thing quickly with as few scars as possible, the Orlando Magic are laying some heavy punches. This has been as physical as advertised.
It is not merely just that Orlando has committed a flagrant foul in each game of this series—in Game 1, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope similarly hit Jayson Tatum in the arm while going up for a dunk that ended up causing a bone bruise in his right wrist; and in Game 2, Goga Bitadze hit Kristaps Porzingis with an inadvertent elbow, leaving the Celtics' center bloodied to an adoring TD Garden crowd.
The Magic are doing everything they can to muck this game up. They are looking to hit, bump and goad. They are daring the officials to call every foul and set the line for where things are going to be.
This is the playoffs, that line is awfully blurry as it is. And the Magic have been able to get their licks in. More than that, they are comfortable doing so.
"I'm going to keep it a buck, I don't care. We're all here to hoop," Cole Anthony said after shootaround Sunday. "I love [the physicality]. We don't play a non-contact game. We play a physical game. This is a contact sport, you've got to be ready to get tough."
That alone speaks to some of the difference in mindsets that have been present in this series.
The Magic are all about hitting teams and enveloping them with their length. They do not give up very much ground. They have gone to switching every screen to limit Boston's 3-point attempts.
But the key to this series has been the Magic's willingness to hand check and make every inch of the court tough to gain. The strategy has frustrated the Celtics.
"I think it's a physical series," Gary Harris said after practice Saturday. "It's the playoffs. The teams are clawing and fighting and we're trying to win the series just like them. It has been physical both ways and there is more physicality to come."
Orlando has gotten caught too. The team gave up 33 free throw attempts in Game 2. Defending without fouling was one of the major issues in that defeat. It has been an issue throughout the season where the Magic gave up the highest free throw rate in the league.
The Magic have always been a team that fouls as much as they get fouled—and the Celtics' ability to defend without fouling using many of the same principles the Magic are using to slow this team down is one of their advantages in the series.
But it also speaks to this team's philosophy: They are not afraid to hit.
And with their discipline and size on defense, the Magic are a tough team to crack.
They were second in the league in defensive rating this season for a reason. They gave up the fewest 3-point attempts per game in the league for a reason—31.4 attempts per game during the regular season and 33.7 per game against the Celtics in the playoffs, nearly 15 attempts per game fewer than the Celtics' regular season average.
When Orlando is able to get stops and make enough shots, the team is able to set its defense and put together an 11-point defensive quarter like the team did in the third quarter Friday.
"I just think [Friday] that in the third quarter, we weren't getting stops," Tatum said after Game 3. "It is kind of tough to play against a set defense every single time or the majority of the quarter. Give them credit, they compete, they play hard. They have some defenders. But I think we had to get some stops first and get in transition and get our pace up."
Unapologetically physical
This is who the Orlando Magic are.
They are unapologetic about their physicality. They have brushed off all the noise and talk about being too physical. Almost as if to say, "Good, that means it is working."
Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazulla warned before Game 1 that the Orlando Magic are not the typical 7-seed. This is a very skilled team that had an injury-filled season. Their defense would give the Celtics some trouble, even if the Magic's offense could not always keep up.
Jaylen Brown put it simply: If he could get away with this physicality, he thinks the Celtics would too. The question is whether the Celtics have the physical reserves to match the Magic.
Game 4 will be a new battle. But nobody should expect this series to be any different. The Magic are not going to play differently. They are embracing this fight.
"It's playoff basketball," Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said after practice Saturday. "It's going to be physical. You expect that. That's what we know a playoff series is. It's playoff basketball."
The Magic have clearly adjusted to the postseason and established their way to play. The Celtics have not had much of an answer. They have clearly been frustrated with the challenge in front of them.