ORLANDO, Fla. — Jayson Tatum sat on the court, grimaced and grabbed his injured right wrist, now wrapped in protective tape. The Boston Celtics superstar tenderly opened and closed his right hand, testing the pain, clenching his teeth.
A moment before, Tatum drove to the rim in the fourth quarter of Game 4 against the Magic, and an Orlando defender whacked him across both arms, sending Tatum tumbling — another hard foul in a first-round series that has become defined by them.
On the floor, Tatum sat beneath the rim in a close game at the raucous Kia Center. On the next Celtics possession, Tatum pulled up from 25 feet at the top of the key and buried a 3-pointer to give his team some much-needed breathing room.
After the make, Tatum raised his hands above his head and cheerfully held his right wrist during the Celtics’ 107-98 win Sunday to give them a 3-1 series lead.
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“I think people are taking notice,” he said of his new celebration, “and it’s a new thing for now.”
The injury, which he suffered during a flagrant foul by a Magic player in Game 1, forced Tatum to miss the first playoff game of his NBA career. But since returning to action in the past two games, Tatum has been dominant as the Celtics look to end the series in Game 5 on Tuesday in Boston.
In Sunday’s win, Tatum scored 37 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, and grabbed 14 rebounds. He made all 14 of his free throws, nine coming in the final quarter. He added three assists and three steals.
“I know what I’m dealing with,” Tatum said about his wrist. “My team knows how serious it is, but it’s that time of year. We’re all sacrificing our bodies and going through things. It’s the playoffs.”
Tatum credited Celtics rookie Baylor Scheierman for helping come up with his new celebration, which Tatum has showcased in the past two games. He scored 36 points and made all 12 of his free throws in Boston’s Game 3 loss Friday, then carried the team down the stretch Sunday to put Boston on the verge of advancing to the next round to face the winner of Knicks-Pistons.
Tatum’s performance came as the Celtics again struggled with the Magic’s physical, aggressive defense, which limited Boston to just 31 3-point attempts — a jarring figure for a team that averaged a league-high 48.4 during the regular season.
The defensive-minded Magic have been a challenge for the Celtics of late, posting a 2-1 record against Boston this season, the second-best mark by any team behind the Thunder. In those games, the Magic held the Celtics to their lowest points per game (100.3) and lowest 3-point percentage (29%) of any Eastern Conference team.
Winning in Orlando has been especially elusive for Boston. The Celtics earned their first victory in Orlando since October 2022, snapping a five-game skid.
“Orlando’s a great team,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They’re well-coached. They have a little bit of everything. They’ve got versatility defensively. They’ve got two guys that can score at three levels. They’ve got shooting, and they’ve got a ton of versatility. The game-plan execution is very simple.”
Orlando made everything difficult for the defending champions. With 4:16 left and the score tied at 91, the Celtics called a timeout.
“I was excited for that moment because I knew we [were] going to figure it out and make plays,” Tatum said. “It’s not just me. Everybody made plays. So, we showed our competitive spirit. That was fun.”
Tatum scored nine points after the timeout, sinking a series of free throws as the large contingent of Celtics fans in the arena chanted “M-V-P!” The Celtics also received strong contributions from other starters Jaylen Brown (21 points, 11 rebounds), Kristaps Porzingis (19 points), Derrick White (18 points) and Al Horford (five blocks) to seal the win.
“This was a big win on the road in a tough, physical environment against a team that’s been eager to take us out,” Brown said. “It’s not over. We’ve got to close it out because we don’t want to come back here.”
Porzingis’ bounce-back game after scoring just seven points in Game 3 helped swing momentum for Boston early and late. But, after the game, Porzingis praised Tatum and his fourth-quarter 3-pointer after the hard foul.
“I thought in my head, like, ‘This guy is special,'” Porzingis said after Tatum’s 3. “He just has, I think also, from when I got here to now, he’s developed more of a killer instinct, and he’s been getting us big buckets in this series and last year’s playoffs. Thanks to him, we were right there, and today again he was phenomenal.”
