How the Celtics can close out the Magic and advance in NBA playoffs
It's closing time for the Boston Celtics. They can wrap up their first-round showdown with the Orlando Magic Tuesday night at TD Garden and get a much-needed respite before the next series.
Or they'll have to take a 3-2 lead back to Orlando and drag out this physical, grueling series for at least one more game. Both teams are sick of each other in this set and the chippiness has increased each game, so the Celtics would be wise to close this puppy out Tuesday night.
Having at least three days of some rest, recuperation, and relaxation sound much more appealing for Boston than another game against these Magic. Give Jayson Tatum a chance to rest his ailing wrist, Jaylen Brown a few days of ease on his bad knee, and everyone else an opportunity to regroup before the next round. There's no need to risk any more bumps or bruises against this aggressive and pesky opponent.
Messing around and not closing out a series was something we worried about with the Celtics a few years ago, but we'll give this team the benefit of the doubt after they were 4-1 in their closeout contests during last year's run to a championship. The only loss in an elimination game was a blowout defeat in Dallas when Boston was up 3-0 in the NBA Finals.
The Celtics were determined to win a title last summer and are determined to win another now, so those old antics appear to be a thing of the past. After dropping Game 3 in Orlando last Friday, this squad bounced back nicely in Game 4 Sunday night, when the Celtics were able to grind out a win in an ugly rock fight. Jayson Tatum led a late charge in the game's final minutes, outscoring the Magic himself, while Al Horford led the defense with a block party.
Now the series is back in Boston and the Celtics are a victory away from advancing to the East semis for the eighth time in the last nine seasons. Here's what you need to know as the C's look to pull off a gentleman's sweep over the Magic.
Holiday out, Brown questionable
Jrue Holiday was ruled out with a hamstring injury Monday night, meaning Boston's starting point guard will miss his third straight game with the injury. The versatile Holiday makes the C's better on both offense and defense, but the team won't have that luxury Tuesday night.
Jaylen Brown, meanwhile, is once again listed as questionable with a right knee posterior impingement. He was questionable for both Games 3 and 4 and played in both, but has clearly lacked his usual explosiveness on the floor. He still managed to score 21 points and grab 11 rebounds while also mucking things up defensively in Boston's Game 4 win, so he is doing a good job managing the lingering injury.
Brown is averaging 23.0 points off 49.2 percent shooting and 42.9 percent from three-point range to go with 8.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals. He is second on the team in scoring to Tatum, who is averaging 30.0 points per game.
Celtics need to keep winning with the little big things
The Magic have really tested Boston this series and made the Celtics win in a different way. It hasn't been easy to watch, but it's been a solid first-round test for the Celtics that should set them up for success on their road ahead.
Usually, the Celtics crush their opposition with a barrage of threes they cannot keep up with. The Magic have taken the long-distance attack away this series, holding the Celtics to just 11.5 makes off 33.0 attempts from downtown. The Celtics averaged 17.8 made threes off 48.2 attempts during the regular season.
It has forced the Celtics to muscle up and win with some bully ball, and they especially matched Orlando's physicality in Game 4. Unless they catch fire from downtown in front of their home fans, the Celtics will need it to continue Tuesday night.
More important though is continuing to do the little things that bring big results. Boston only turned the ball over 10 times Sunday night and gave the Magic only eight points off those miscues, after coughing it up 21 times (leading to 26 points for Orlando) in Game 3. They only surrendered seven offensive rebounds and 14 second-chance points in Game 4, after the Magic got 26 offensive boards last Friday.
And whatever they do, the Celtics can't stoop to Orlando's borderline dirty tactics. Match the physicality, but don't go overboard. Make the officials do their job and deal with whatever a desperate Magic team sends out Tuesday night.
"We had to get more physical," Brown said after Game 4. "Just taking care of the boards, taking care of the trenches, taking care of the little plays like that, the physicality, not fouling for unnecessary reasons and just playing basketball. I still think we can be better."
Orlando's only chance -- other than beating the crud out of Celtics players -- is to win big within the margins. If the Celtics take away the little big things, they'll punch their ticket to the second round late Tuesday night.
Celtics need to keep Kristaps Porzingis rolling
This has not been a good series for the Boston big man. He's not hitting threes (just 2-for-14), he hasn't been much of a mismatch exploiter in the paint, and his defense has been disappointing at best.
But Porzingis showed signs of life in Game 4, especially late when Boston went on its game-winning run. His three-point play with four minutes left got the ball rolling on the run, and he played solid defense on Wendell Carter Jr. despite having five fouls.
The Celtics sent Porzingis rolling to the basket early in the game, which threw the Magic off guard a bit. He was able to get two easy dunks in the first and scored 13 points in the first half. He ended up dropping 19 points off 7-of-14 shooting Sunday night, including 2-of-4 from downtown for his first threes of the series. Horford was a huge difference-maker for Boston in the front court in Game 4, but having Porzingis show up again would make closing this series out a lot easier for the Celtics.
NBA Teams with a 3-1 lead in playoffs
There have been 288 teams to take a 3-1 lead in an NBA playoff series, and 275 of them (95.5 percent) have won the set.
Teams trailing 3-1 have forced a Game 6 just 80 times and a Game 7 just 22 times. The last team to fall behind 3-1 and force a Game 7 were the 2023 Boston Celtics, who forced a winner-takes-all showdown in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat after falling into a 0-3 series hole. (We won't discuss what happened in Game 7.)
The last team to recover from a 3-1 deficit and win the series was the 2020 Denver Nuggets, who beat the L.A. Clippers in seven games in the Western Conference Semifinals in the Orlando bubble.
Boston Celtics in closeout games
Overall, the Celtics have a 93-72 record in closeout games.
Tatum is 14-9 in closeout games, and has averaged 24.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in those contests. His biggest closeout game performance came in 2023, when Tatum dropped 51 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in Game 7 of the East semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Tatum is coming off two straight big games for Boston, when he scored 36 points in Game 3 and 37 in Game 4. He was a perfect 26-of-26 at the free-throw line in those two games. If he has another performance like that in Game 5, the Celtics should be moving on in the NBA playoffs.
