Celtics swarm Magic after Paolo Banchero's foul trouble, breathe sigh of relief

BOSTON It wasnt just raucous cheering that was rattling around TD Garden Tuesday night.

Listen closely, very closely, and you might have heard thousands of Boston Celtics fans breathing sighs of relief.

Yes, the Celtics are on their way to the Eastern Conference semifinals against either the New York Knicks or Detroit Pistons, this after their series-clinching 120-89 victory over the Orlando Magic.

Yes, the Celtics delivered this series to the history books in a nice, neat five-game package, which is more or less what everybody predicted, in keeping with the tried-and-true Orlando-might-steal-one warning flag.

And, yes, the Celtics more or less chloroformed the Magic with a 36-13 third quarter, thanks in part to Paolo Banchero, Orlandos young star, being relegated to the bench after picking up his fifth foul.

Advertisement Those sighs of relief we talked about? Thats when they arrived.

While its important to note that the Celtics have tremendous respect for the Magic and said all kinds of nice things about them after the game, the Magic signaled their respect for the Celtics on the court, partly by using ratcheted-up physicality to maybe get them off their game a little.

Consider some of the bumps and bruises this series produced.

Jayson Tatum suffered a right wrist injury in the fourth quarter of Game 1, this as a result of a hard foul by Orlandos Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

He was forced to miss Game 2, the first time the Celtic superstar has missed a playoff game in his NBA career.

Kristaps Porzingis took an elbow to the forehead from Orlando big man Goga Bitadze in Game 2 and wound up with a gash that needed five stitches to close.

He played the rest of the series with that closed-up gash on proud display, as though he were an old-timey, pre-masks NHL goaltender.

If Gump Porzingis catches on as a nickname, you heard it here first.

Theres also the right knee injury that Jaylen Brown has been battling.

And Jrue Holiday has missed three straight games with a hamstring injury.

Put it all together and this is one of the ways outstanding teams wind up getting booted out of the playoffs.

And the Magic were willing to speed that narrative along, supplying the necessary elbow here and push there to make it happen.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was asked after the game about Orlandos physicality.

He used the question as an opportunity to stick up for his guys.

Yeah, they had to deal with our physicality as well, Mazzulla said.

And they had to deal with our defense.

The key to the series was the trenches and the physicality there.

Every series, every game, presents lessons.

You have to take those lessons if youre fortunate to move on.

Theres a lot that we can learn from this series.

Advertisement One thing that can be learned is that you cant score baskets from a hospital bed.

OK, thats an overstatement.

Its also an overstatement for me to reach for a quote from Rocky II, but Ill go there anyway: Hes all wrong for us, baby, Apollo Creeds manager says about a possible rematch against Rocky Balboa.

Yep, overstatement.

And yet the Magic built a nine-point lead in the first half of Game 5, raising the very real possibility they might pull out a victory and send this series back to Orlando.

Once there, anything could have happened.

There have been bigger upsets.

But then the Magic lost Banchero, whom Tatum refers to as a matchup nightmare.

With Banchero gone, there were no more nightmares with which the Celtics had to contend.

They were on their way.

By the time it was over, Tatum had registered yet another stellar playoff performance 35 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds and Brown contributed 23 points and six rebounds.

Oh, and those fourth and fifth fouls on Banchero? Brown was responsible for both of them.

Jayson Tatum in Games 3-5 after missing Game 2 with wrist injury: 36 PTS, 9 REB, 4 AST 37 PTS, 14 REB, 3 AST 35 PTS, 8 REB, 10 AST 35+ in 3 straight playoff games for the first time in his career.

Celtics close out Magic in 5.

pic.twitter.com/2wcvXXR45P Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) April 30, 2025 Hes the life source for that team, Brown said of Banchero.

Hes a phenomenal young player.

He can do it all.

Hes so talented and skilled.

The futures bright for him, Brown said.

But once we saw him get into foul trouble and hang his head, we were ready to go.

So we just took advantage of that from there.

The Celtics are not hanging their heads.

Instead, they are hanging around, waiting for the winner of Pistons-Knicks.

Whens the earliest we could play? asked Brown, who didnt bother waiting for an answer.

Whatever it is, Im going to take advantage and be ready to go for whoevers next.

Advertisement In other words, hes going to chill.

All the Celtics will chill.

It can be good, it can be bad, Mazzulla said, referring to the downtime awaiting the Celtics until the Eastern Conference semifinals begin.

Well exit the arena for a couple of days.

That can be good.

Get ready for the next series.

We have to re-enter the arena.

We have to get ready.

Were going to take the days we need and get right back at it.

But first, the Celtics need to sit right down.

They beat Orlando.

They also survived Orlando.

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(Photo: David Butler II / Imagn Images).

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