The Boston Celtics dropped Game 3 of their first round series against the Orlando Magic, now sitting at 2-1 in Boston’s favor. The story so far has been Orlando’s physicality, which has been considered borderline dirty by many. They’ve already committed three flagrant fouls in just three games.
Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Kristaps Porzingis have all taken exception to the Magic’s playstyle, calling it out both on the court and in the post-game pressers. After Friday night’s loss, Jaylen had this to say: “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. If you want to fight it out, we can do that. We can fight to see who goes to the second round.”
Tempers are sure to flare going forward, and it’s almost guaranteed that Boston’s reactions to the physicality are only going to encourage the Magic to keep up their energy. The Celtics need to rise up and meet that physicality if the refs are going to let things go, but they shouldn’t change up their game plan to do it. They just so happen to have someone on the bench who they can inject to play the role, though: Torrey Craig.
Craig hasn’t seen the floor much in this series, just 1.2 minutes at the end of Game 1. Jrue Holiday has already been ruled out for Game 4, so there could be an opening for Torrey to slide in – especially given that Sam Hauser hasn’t provided anything off the bench yet.
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Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Hauser has played in all three games so far, averaging just over 12 minutes a game. In that time, he hasn’t scored a single point. In fact, he’s only taken four total shots. His only contributions to this point are five rebounds, two assists, and one block.
Celtics fans know very well that Sam is capable of much more, but Orlando has taken advantage of him defensively, and have been limiting Boston’s three-point attempts across the board. The Celtics averaged just over 48 3PA per game during the regular season. So far, the Magic have kept them to just 33.7 3PA per game – and yet, the conversion rate is just about the same; 36.8% from deep in the regular season, and 36.6% in the post-season.
If these trends continue, Torrey can fit in perfectly. He’s a better defender than Sam, and while he can’t shoot the three at the same clip, Craig can still pose as a threat and put them up if he finds himself open. He converted 36.4% of his 3PA during the regular season between his time in Boston and Chicago this year.
Torrey is also a very active and gritty player. He plays with a ton of energy, and loves to chase loose balls, crash the boards, and junk things up. His energy could serve as a big spark off the bench, and I would trust him to be a sort of “enforcer” if push comes to shove. It’s a small sample size, but Craig averaged 8.6 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 2.0 blocks per 36 minutes with the Celtics this year.
Boston is hands down the more talented team in this series, and Orlando’s “physicality” is not enough to overcome that. It is enough to put extra wear and tear on the Celtics players, though, so ending this series as quickly as possible is in their best interest for more than the obvious reasons. If Sam is unable to produce at the moment, inserting Torrey can help change the tone and make the game easier for everyone else. We’ll find out soon enough if Joe Mazzulla sees it the same way.
