Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics and Cory Joseph #10 of the Orlando Magic battle for the ball during the third quarter in Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round NBA Playoffs at TD Garden on April 23, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. | Maddie Meyer/Getty Images/AFP
WASHINGTON, United States — Bloodied and bruised, the defending champion Boston Celtics warned NBA rivals who want to intimidate them with a physical style that they are ready to trade blows with anybody.
Jaylen Brownscored 36 points, going 5-of-7 from three-point range, and the host Celtics defeated Orlando 109-100 on Wednesday, seizing a 2-0 lead in an Eastern Conference first round best-of-seven series that continues Friday in Orlando.
The Celtics were without six-time All-Star forward Jason Tatum — their points, rebounds and assists leader — as he missed his first career playoff game after 114 appearances due to a bruised right wrist bone suffered in the series opener.
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Boston center Kristaps Porzingis scored 20 points and matched Brown and Al Horford with 10 rebounds despite suffering a bloody forehead gash late in the third quarter when struck in a rebound battle by the left elbow of Orlando center Goga Bitadze, the Georgian opening a cut that required five stitches.
“It was a tough, physical game. Nothing easy on either side. Every rebound is a war and it’s probably going to be that way for the rest of the series,” Porzingis said.
“We’re going to be us. We’re not going to let anybody punk us.”
Latvia’s Porzingis said the Celtics expect a body-banging style from opponents and Boston will be ready to respond in kind.
“We expect teams to be doing this kind of stuff, to get in our heads, try to provoke us, get some reaction out of us,” Porzingis said.
“We weren’t surprised but we’re just not going to take it. We’re going to hit them right back.”
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After being knocked to the court, Porzingis rose and went to the locker room for a huge bandage, then returned and shot his free throws before going back to the locker room, returning to the game with 7:15 to play and a smaller bandage.
“This one was just a quick flash, a quick cut, but I saw the amount of blood as soon as I looked at my hand so I knew it was going to be some stitches for sure,” Porzingis said, comparing the action to the violence of pro wrestling.
“I love my ‘WWE’ moments for sure,” Porzingis said. “It just happens in the game. I knew getting hit again, blood again, crowd was going to go with it. It’s cool. It was fine.”
Boston led 81-71 entering the fourth quarter and the Magic got no closer than five points after that.
“We didn’t play up to our level,” Porzingis said. “I expect us to be better going forward.”
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Orlando’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope fouled Tatum on the injury play in game one and in game two tripped over Horford. Both players were restrained before the second-quarter incident escalated.
The Celtics were 8-2 in the regular season without Tatum, both losses coming to Orlando.
“We’ve got a lot of talent so it just comes down to being ready,” Brown said. “We came out and were aggressive.”
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