Derrick White scored 30 points, Jayson Tatum had 17 points and finished the game after a scary late fall, and the Boston Celtics beat the Orlando Magic 103-86 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Sunday.
Payton Pritchard added 19 points off the bench for Boston, which hosts Game 2 on Wednesday night. Jaylen Brown played 31 minutes and had 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting after missing the final three games of the regular season due to a lingering knee issue.
With Boston leading 89-73 with 8:28 remaining, Tatum went up for a dunk and was hit hard by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as he tried to block it. Tatum landed awkwardly on his right side.
He stayed down briefly before eventually rising to his feet, clenching his right hand. After a video review by referees, Caldwell-Pope’s foul was upgraded to a flagrant foul. Tatum subsequently missed the two ensuing free throws but remained in the game.
Afterward, Joe Mazzulla was asked about Tatum’s wrist, and the Celtics head coach replied, “He’s good.”
Paolo Banchero led the Magic with 36 points and 11 rebounds. Franz Wagner added 23 points for Orlando, which has not made it out of the first round of the playoffs since the 2009-10 season.
Orlando led by a point at halftime, limiting a Boston team that set an NBA record for 3-pointers this season to 7-of-15 from beyond the arc in the opening 24 minutes and 16-of-37 for the game.
But the Magic turned the ball over six times in the third quarter and were outscored 30-18 as the Celtics took a 78-65 lead into the fourth. The Celtics’ lead grew as high as 19 in the final period.
For the game, Orlando finished with 15 turnovers, which led to 24 Boston points.
Brown, who received injections in his knee last week, didn’t show any noticeable effects of the issue at the outset Sunday. He had an early turnover, but followed that up by stripping Banchero, which White picked up and dropped in for a transition floater. Brown later showed some offensive explosiveness, bursting past Banchero and finishing with a left-handed layup.
Brown had four points, two rebounds, two steals and an assist during the initial seven-minute stretch to begin the game before taking his first rest.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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