Four Studs, Two Duds As Celtics Punch Second-Round Ticket Over Magic

The Boston Celtics sealed their opportunity to make the Orlando Magic disappear in Game 5 of their first-round series on Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Jaylen Brown was listed as questionable in Monday night’s injury report, but the four-time All-Star wasn’t going to let the Celtics take the floor down two starters — Jrue Holiday was out with a hamstring injury. Brown’s resilience proved timely for Boston amid its mission to ensure that the series wouldn’t return to Orlando for a Game 6, and the Magic would be haunted by their premature confetti pour in Game 3.

Boston’s closeout of Orlando secures its spot in the Eastern Conference semifinals — either against the New York Knicks or Detroit Pistons — and books some much-needed rest for the team. It was a physical five-game battle that sidelined Jayson Tatum for the first time in his playoff career, required Kristaps Porzingis to receive five stitches and saw both teams jaw back and forth through multiple dust-ups.

Nevertheless, the Celtics made it out unscathed and victorious. Here are three studs and three duds from Boston’s 120-89 Game 5 win over Orlando:

STUDS
Jayson Tatum
TD Garden’s crowd poured on the “MVP” chants for Tatum, and they were well deserved.

Tatum logged his latest postseason masterpiece, scoring a game-high 35 points with 8 rebounds and 10 assists to secure double-double No. 52 of his playoff career. The six-time All-Star shot an efficient 10-of-16 from the field, a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line and secured a plus-34 rating when the dust settled. It was a tremendous start for Boston’s championship defense, and for Tatum, the 27-year-old’s redemption arc after his offseason of scrutiny, doubt and disrespect.

Boston’s third-quarter explosion
Orlando had a fighting chance… until the second half rolled around.

Boston put its foot down with the Magic and unloaded a 36-point frame in the third quarter, while also holding Orlando to just 13 points. Tatum knocked down a trio of 3-point attempts, Brown had his way with the Magic inside the paint and the uptick in their intensity was too much for Orlando to handle. Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley even lost his cool, just before the bad turned ugly.

The Celtics closed out the frame on a 30-9 run after Paolo Banchero picked up his fifth foul and was sent to watch the madness unfold from Orlando’s bench.

Jaylen Brown
The reigning NBA Finals MVP was the second to score in double figures in Boston’s lineup.

Brown took the floor on a mission, pitching in 23 points, six rebounds and three assists. He followed in Tatum’s lead by shooting 9-for-18 while limiting his turnover total to two. The Celtics weren’t hot from 3-point range in the first half, forcing the team to search for scoring in the interior, and Brown was a key part in making that happen.

Franz Wagner
The Magic didn’t have much reliability beyond Wagner.

Orlando’s fourth-year veteran scored a team-leading 25 points on 10-of-22 shooting. Wagner was useless from beyond the arc — he missed all four 3-point attempts — but the 23-year-old remained engaged, grabbed four rebounds and tallied a steal. The Magic simply didn’t support Wagner at all. The rest of the starting lineup combined to score just 39 points and committed four turnovers — which matched the lineup’s total of 3-pointers made.

DUDS
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
The biggest Celtics agitator of the series was dead silent throughout the finale.

Caldwell-Pope failed to make a difference offensively, again, and did more harm than good for the Magic. He scored just eight points across 30 minutes on 3-of-9 shooting from the field, grabbed just three rebounds and finished with a minus-18 rating. Caldwell-Pope, without a doubt, filled the villain role throughout the series, but the 32-year-old forgot there are two sides in doing so successfully: First, make sure you’re the most hated person in Boston — which he did — and second, make sure to perform.

Paolo Banchero
The odds were stacked against Banchero entering the matchup, and although the 22-year-old set an impressive precedent in Game 1, the series send-off was a dud.

Banchero scored 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the floor with nine rebounds, six assists and three turnovers. The night took an ugly turn as soon as Banchero tallied three fouls in a short span in the third quarter, which forced Mosley to sit his franchise star and watch the Celtics run away with the contest.