Boston, with out high scorer Tatum, had been pushed by Miami whereas Houston levelled their sequence with Golden State Warriors.
Bloodied and bruised, defending champions Boston Celtics have outlasted Orlando to grab command of their NBA playoff sequence whereas the Cleveland Cavaliers maintained their sequence lead over Miami Warmth.
Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 36 factors because the Celtics overcame the absence of main scorer Jayson Tatum to beat the visiting Magic 109-100 on Wednesday in Recreation 2 of their Japanese Convention first-round sequence.
Kristaps Porzingis added 20 factors and 10 rebounds for the second-seeded Celtics, who’ve a 2-0 lead within the best-of-seven sequence.
“He’s been nice and constant all through the season,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned about Brown. “He can take it to a different stage mentally and bodily, and he did that for his workforce tonight. On the finish of the day, he’s prepared to do no matter it takes for us to win.”
Orlando used an 8-0 run to drag inside 5 factors early within the fourth quarter, however the Magic by no means obtained any nearer.
“I believed we performed with quite a lot of coronary heart, quite a lot of character,” mentioned Magic ahead Franz Wagner. “We made a bunch of runs within the sport.”
Tatum, who averaged 26.8 factors per sport in the course of the common season, didn’t play in Recreation 2 due to a bone bruise. He was knocked to the ground whereas driving to the basket within the fourth quarter of Boston’s 103-86 Recreation 1 win on Sunday. Tatum returned to the sport however was listed as “uncertain” for Recreation 2 earlier than the workforce’s remaining damage report formally dominated him out.
Derrick White (17), Payton Pritchard (14) and Jrue Vacation (11) additionally scored in double figures for the Celtics.
The sequence shifts to Orlando for Recreation 3, which will likely be performed on Friday.
“It doesn’t turn out to be a sequence till the house workforce loses …” mentioned Magic coach Jamahl Mosley. “Our crowd is without doubt one of the greatest within the league. That vitality is one thing we’re gonna want.”
Within the different video games, East high seed Cleveland held off visiting Miami 121-112 as Donovan Mitchell scored 17 of his 30 factors within the fourth quarter and the Cavs took a 2-0 sequence edge with sport three on Saturday in Miami.
At Houston, Jalen Inexperienced scored 38 factors and the hosts Rockets beat Golden State Warriors 109-94 to stage their Western Convention sequence at 1-1 with sport three in San Francisco on Saturday.
Making the night time extra painful for the seventh-seeded Warriors was shedding Jimmy Butler III to a pelvic contusion late within the first quarter. He missed the rest of the sport and was headed for an MRI examination.
“Jimmy at all times says he’s going to be superb,” mentioned Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “However we now have to attend and see with the MRI.”
Second-seeded Houston by no means trailed, constructing a lead of as many as 20 factors within the second half and answering each Golden State rally effort.
“Houston performed nice,” mentioned Kerr. “They had been actually bodily. They got here out with quite a lot of pressure defensively. … It was their night time. They performed an amazing sport on each ends of the ground.”
With out the versatile Butler on the ground, Golden State relied closely on its 3-point capturing and went 17-for-43 (39.5 %) from lengthy vary. Coupled with a poor 11-of-18 effort on the free-throw line, Golden State couldn’t muster sufficient offence.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 20 factors. Turkish star Alperen Sengun added 17 factors and 16 rebounds for Houston.
🏆 PLAYOFF BRACKET 🏆
▪️ CLE, BOS prolong sequence result in 2-0
▪️ HOU ties sequence 1-1The #NBAPlayoffs offered by Google proceed Thursday as Recreation 3’s start with 3 video games on TNT & NBA TV! pic.twitter.com/NKBLtwy8P3
— NBA (@NBA) April 24, 2025
