Four reasons the Celtics lost Game 3 to the Magic - The Boston Globe (2025)

Boston didn’t get much offensive help from its bench, which totaled 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 1 assist. Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard made one field goal. Sam Hauser went scoreless for the third game in a row. Luke Kornet was the only other bench player that played as coach Joe Mazzulla continued to tighten his rotation for the second game in a row.

The Magic were able to prevail despite another rough shooting night. Here are four things they did to take the Celtics out of their element and snag a series-changing win:

The Celtics are one of the best teams in the league at taking care of the basketball. They averaged 11.9 turnovers per game during the regular season, which was second behind Oklahoma City.

They committed 20 turnovers in Friday’s loss, double the amount they had in Game 2.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 13 of those.

The Magic went into a full-court press trailing late in the first quarter, and it produced the turnovers they were looking for. Whether it was an inbounds pass from Hauser, Pritchard getting the ball stripped by Anthony Black, or Brown dribbling the ball out of bounds, the Celtics looked rattled by the pressure.

“We talked before the game about being able to turn them over,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “That’s been something we’ve been very good at. We hadn’t done it for the first couple of games.”

“I think the change in mentality there had to be that. Make them have to work harder to get the basketball and not get into their sets as easy as they needed to with 19, 18 on the clock. Can they run their sets when it’s like 14 or 15 on the clock? That’s very important for us.”

After Game 2, a frustrated Paolo Banchero said the Celtics’ role players were the ones that killed the Magic, naming Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Pritchard.

Holiday missed Friday’s game with a hamstring strain. Pritchard had an unusually quiet night with just 3 points. White had an average game by his standards, scoring 16 points and notching five assists.

White burned the Magic in Game 1, scoring 30 points while Tatum and Brown struggled from deep. Slowing down White was key, Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. said.

“We got stops. We got out and ran. I think we did a really good job of taking guys like Derrick [White] and Payton [Pritchard] out of the game, ” Carter Jr. said. “Which, in my opinion, was the reason why we lost the first two games. I think we did a really good job of paying attention to what was needed to get this win.”

Orlando used its length, athleticism, and aggressiveness to guard the 3-point line. The Celtics only took 27 3-point attempts, which 10 fewer than they averaged the first two games.

They forced the Celtics to do two things that they did not do particularly well during the regular season — run in transition and get contested buckets in the paint. Boston was dead-last in the league in points in the paint (41.2 per game) during the regular season, and they were 29th in fast-break points.

Usually, more than half of the Celtics’ attempts are 3-pointers. On Friday night, more than half of their points came from the fast break and in the paint.

“They’re definitely running us off [the 3-point line] very aggressively,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “We have to be smart about it. Some of them are still good looks and we have to take them, and some of them we have to let them fly by and make the next play. You’ve got to find that balance, but they’re definitely on the higher end of aggressiveness closing out so we have to make them pay for it.”

Brown expressed frustration with the way the game was called, saying the referees did not do enough to control the environment.

The Magic struck a different tone in their postgame press conferences. They made aggressive plays and left it up to the officials to make calls.

Porzingis said the Celtics have to accept that certain calls aren’t going to go their way and must bring their own brand of physicality to Sunday’s Game 4.

“That’s the battle that we’re facing,” Porzingis said. “Less whistle, sometimes no whistle. We just have to play through all of these chaotic moments. That’s the game. We’ve seen it already before and [Friday night] they got us. We have to regroup and come back.”