Naturally, the fate of the Orlando Magic's season came down to a missed 3-pointer and a defensive stop. Those minute plays are always huge, but this is the yin and yang of this team. The biggest thing they miss, keeping them from potential contention, and the identity that has made them a thorn in the side of every team in the league.
Clinging to a two-point lead, the Magic worked to let the shot clock wind down and milk as much time off as they could to give the Celtics as little time as they could. Paolo Banchero got to his spot in the short corner, read a double team late and kicked it to Franz Wagner for a three.
It naturally missed but caromed high into the sky before Jayson Tatum could grab it with 0.3 seconds remaining. The Magic needed one more stop to secure the win.
The final play would be a wrestling match. A pirouette of switches, grabbing, bumping and, if the refs allowed it, holding.
Derrick White could not find an easy shooter on the perimeter and lobbed it toward the rim, hoping a Celtic could tip it in.
It hit off the front rim, and Wendell Carter, climbing over Kristaps Porzingis, helped get a finger on it. It was indeed a brawl, seemingly underneath the basket. The ball got knocked out toward midcourt, allowing the clock to run out on a 95-93 Magic victory in Game 3, bringing the series to 2-1.
The Magic would not have it any other way than this mass of bodies fighting for every inch on the court.
Orlando is trying to drag Boston into the mud. There is no other way for them to play and keep up with the scoring. But more importantly, that is who this Magic team is. That is their identity, and that is what makes them a tough out.
To win in this series to win with this team and this group, they needed to play this gritty, grimy, ugly style. This is Magic basketball.
"It was a gutsy win," Paolo Banchero said after Game 3. "We knew they were going to make a run and tey did. But toward the end we made enough plays defensively and offensively to keep them at arm's length and be able to hold them off."
That has been what has defined the Orlando Magic throughout this season. They are a team that is fatally flawed against a title-contending team and are looking for something, anything to scratch and claw their way to wins.
Against most teams, their bruising defense makes opponents deeply uncomfortable. They drag teams into the mud and make them get dirty to win.
A halftime reset
The Orlando Magic were forcing turnovers in the first half, but the Boston Celtics were still flowing into offense. They were still executing off of switches. They were still draining threes and making the Magic pay for their offensive lulls.
Boston closed the second quarter on a 19-5 run, holding Orlando scoreless for nearly six minutes. It seemed that even this vaunted Magic defense had cracks. It could not sustain the pressure that comes from an offense that begs for perfect defense. Not against this Celtics team.
Orlando had struggled coming out of the locker room in Games 1 and 2 of the series. The Celtics used big runs out of halftime to take full control over games and put the Magic in deficits they struggled to come out of.
At halftime, coach Jamahl Mosley usually shows his teams clips, and they review adjustments. But at halftime of Game 3, there were no clips. Just a reminder to play Magic basketball.
"Usually, Coach shows film and things like that," Wendell Carter said after Game 3. "But he said no film at the half. It was as simple as [manning] up and figuring it out on the defensive end. Jayson Tatum got hot for a little minute. We understood we had to continue to make plays on the defensive end to give us a chance."
Orlando opened the third quarter on a 20-4 run to take a six-point lead. The Magic outscored the Celtics 24-11 in the third quarter. They forced six turnovers for seven points, using their defense to generate offense. The Celtics shot 3 for 17 in the quarter.
The Magic turned their nightmare into a dream. One that fit their eye.
"This is a group that continues to pull for one another no matter who is on the floor, no matter who is on the bench," Mosley said after Game 3. "These guys continue to talk to one another about what we needed to do. It came on the defensive end of the floor. Can we string stops together?"
The entire second half was a defensive bloodbath. Orlando won the second half 46-34. The Celtics shot 11 for 34 (32.4 percent) from the floor and just 2 for 13 (15.4 percent) from three. Orlando forced 10 turnovers for 13 points in the final two quarters.
The key to Orlando's victories are based in this kind of defensive play. The Magic are an unapologetically physical team. To win this game they had to do it their way.
That did mean sending the Celtics to the line at times. But it also meant frustrating Boston with bumps and hand checks. The officials are letting them play and Orlando found the line it could not cross into foul territory better in this game.
Boston was off kilter with the way Orlando was defending. This was the Magic playing into their strengths.
"I thought we showed a lot of character," Franz Wagner said after Game 3. "We stuck together in that third and found a way to win the game."
Holding on, Scraping by
But the Orlando Magic still had to hold on to the end to win this one. They still needed to scrape every last thing they could.
They forced turnovers and got in transition. They got superhuman games from Franz Wagner (32 points, including two layups to give the Magic the lead for good) and Paolo Banchero (29 points). They forced the Boston Celtics to miss and pass on threes (9 for 27 in the game).
But the Celtics would not go away just as the Magic could not be so easily swatted. Orlando will make enough mistakes and go through offensive droughts that allow teams like Boston to rally and pressure them.
The magic gave up a 17-5 run to lose a 12-point lead and tie the game at 2:31 to play. They needed stops at that point, and found them, or just enough of them. This was still a battle to the end.
But it was one Orlando came up with.
"That's growth for us," Wendell Carter said after Game 3. "We've struggled with third quarters, whether that's energy or lack of focus. We also understood that no team comes back from a 3-0 in history. We had to find a way to change the trajectory of this game. I think that was kind of an eye-opener for everyone. We figured it out."
Throughout the season, Jamahl Mosley has praised his team's resiliency. Their toughness has been on full display. Their defense has been the thorn in the Celtics' side—the gnat they cannot brush away.
But there is still that careful reminder: This is just one game. All the Magic have done is defend their homecourt. They must do it again Sunday in Game 4.
The only way that will happen is if the team repeats the intensity and physicality they had Friday night in Game 3. They will only do that by embracing who they are.