ORLANDO — Jaylen Brown smirked when asked about Orlando’s physicality as he sat down at the postgame podium after the Celtics’ 95-93 loss to the Magic.
“They got away with a lot,” he said. “If you can get away with it, I would do it too.”
Brown, who entered Friday’s Game 3 against the Magic listed as questionable to play due to a right knee impingement, finished the game with a new injury: a dislocated index finger.
That dislocation came at the hands of Magic guard Cole Anthony, who yanked Brown’s arm as he drove to the basket in the second quarter.
“But I got 9 more [fingers],” Brown said, demonstrably wiggling his fingers.
Upon review, Anthony was issued a flagrant foul, penalty one — the Magic’s third of the series.
The first came in Game 1, when a flagrant foul was called on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope after he pulled down Jayson Tatum on a drive to the basket. That resulted in Tatum missing Game 2 with a bone bruise on his wrist, and Al Horford resoundingly stated there was something extra to that play.
In Game 2, it was Kristaps Porzingis took an elbow to the face from Goga Bitadze, and subsequently got five stitches on his forehead.
Then, finally, in Game 3, it was Brown.
“The flagrant fouls is piling up, you know what I mean?” he said.
So, where do the Celtics go from here?
Brown thinks the tensions could eventually boil over into an on-court skirmish.
“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,” he said, adding: “If we want to fight it out, we can do that. We can fight to see who goes to the second round.”
Jaylen Brown was asked by @GwashburnGlobe about how the Celtics can respond to the Magic’s fouls:
“There might be a fighter break out or something. It’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball, and the refs is not controlling their environment.”
“If we want to fight it,… pic.twitter.com/En9T4aUBGH
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzell) April 26, 2025
The Celtics star made sure to note he didn’t mind the physical play. He just wants to see it called both ways.
Brown was the only player on either team who racked up five fouls in the game. Two of the fouls came on the offensive end in the third quarter, costing the Celtics four points in a quarter that saw them score a season-low 11 points.
He was sidelined after picking up his fifth foul with four minutes to play, and as a result, he missed three of the final four minutes.
“I don’t have a problem with the game being physical,” he said. “It just seems like when I use my physicality, it goes in the opposite direction. That’s what my frustration was. Just a tough whistle tonight.”
“You are allowing guys to handcheck — let it go on both sides then.”
Porzingis said postgame that the Celtics need to find ways to capitalize on the fact that the refereeing are letting Orlando players get away with contact.
“[They’re] borderline fouling,” he said. “That’s what this, you know — borderline fouling and fouling. And some of it, they call it, of course, and some of it they don’t. And that’s how it’s going to be. We have to accept the reality.”
Kristaps Porzingis on Orlando mucking up the game:
“Borderline fouling. That’s what this, you know, borderline fouling and fouling. Some of it, they call it, of course, and some of it they don’t. And that’s how it’s going to be. We have to accept the reality.”
(Q: @ByJayKing) pic.twitter.com/n4IAE92gGz
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzell) April 26, 2025
So far this series, the Magic have been called for 63 fouls and the Celtics for 52. Porzingis said he hopes to see the Celtics get away with some of the same physical contact the Magic have.
“We can use that, you know?” he said. “It’s not that there’s only one way. It’s both ways. So we also have to, for sure — we can get away with some stuff that, they’re scratching their heads, you know?”
Porzingisr finished the game with 7 points on 3-10 shooting, and he finished with a +/- of +16. He was visibly disappointed in his Game 3 performance: “It stings, man. I have to take accountability. I played like shit.”
“It is a pretty big difference from the regular season,” he said. “You have to make that adjustment as a player and not expect anything. You just go out there and play through contact.”
Brown said the most important thing the Celtics can do in response is play their brand of basketball.
“That’s the key,” he said. “We know how good we are and what we can do. But we just gotta fight.”
Still, despite the tough whistle and offensive struggles, the Celtics only fell by 2 points. They tied things up with 2 minutes to go, and had a chance to tie things up at the buzzer, though Porzingis couldn’t convert on a pass from Derrick White with 0.3 seconds to play.
“We had every opportunity to win this game and we came up short,” Brown said. “But we’ll be ready for the next one.”