BOSTON – Derrick White scored 30 points and Jason Tatum scored 17 points to finish the game after a frightening late fall, with the Boston Celtics defeating Orlando Magic 103-86 in Game 1 of the first round of playoff series on Sunday.
Payton Pritchard added 19 points from the Boston bench, which will host Game 2 on Wednesday night. Jaylen Brown played 31 minutes and scored 16 points in six-fourth shooting after missing the final three games of the regular season due to prolonged knee issues.
Boston led 89-73 with 8:28 left, and Tatum went up for a dunk and was hit hard by Kentavia Caldwell Pope for trying to block it. Tatum landed awkwardly on the right.
He stayed temporarily and eventually stood on his legs and clasped his right hand. After a video review by the referee, Caldwell-Pope’s foul was upgraded to a terrible foul. Tatum then missed two subsequent free throws but remained in the game.
Paolo Bancello led the magic with 36 points and 11 rebounds. Franz Wagner added 23 points to Orlando, but hasn’t scored it since the first round of the playoffs since the 2009-10 season.
Orlando led points at halftime to limit the Boston team that set a 3-pointer NBA record this season, limiting the game to seven out of 15 in the opening 24 minutes and 16 of 37.
However, the Magic went above 30-18 as they rounded the ball over six times in the third quarter, taking the Celtics’ 78-65 lead to fourth place. The Celtics’ lead went to 19 in their final period.
For the game, Orlando finished with 15 turnovers, leading to 24 Boston points.
Brown, who received an injection in his knee last week, showed no significant impact on the issue at the beginning of Sunday. He had early sales, but then stripped the buncello. Brown later showed some offensive explosiveness, bursting past the buncello and finished with a left-handed layup.
Brown had four points, two rebounds, two steels and assists during the first 7 minutes of stretch to start the game before taking his first rest.
