Boston, without the top scorer Tatum, was pushed by Miami, while Houston level his series with Golden State Warriors.
The Boston Celtics defenders, bloody, have survived Orlando to take command of their NBA playoff series, while the Cleveland Cavaliers maintained their leadership in the series about Miami Heat.
Jaylen Brown scored a maximum of 36 points when the Celtics exceeded the absence of the top scorer Jays Tatum to overcome the Magic 109-100 visitor on Wednesday in game 2 of his first round series of the East Conference.
Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the second thirst ketics, which have a 2-0 advantage in the best seven series.
“It has been great and consistent during the season,” said the coach of the Celtics, Joe Mazzulla, about Brown. “You can take it to another mental and physical level, and did that for your team tonight. At the end of the day, you are willing to do whatever you need to win.”
Orlando used an 8-0 race to throw within five points at the beginning of the last quarter, but the magic never approached.
“I thought we played with a lot of heart, a lot of character,” said Alero Magic Franz Wagner. “We did a lot of races in the game.”
Tatum, who averaged 26.8 points per game in the regular season, did not play in game 2 due to a bone hematoma. He was beaten on the floor while leading the basket in the last quarter of the Victory of the Boston game 1 103-86 on Sunday. Tatum returned to the game, but was listed as “doubtful” for game 2 before the team’s injury injury officer ruled out.
Derrick White (17), Payton Pritchard (14) and Jrue Holiday (11) also scored in double figures for the Celtics.
The series changes to Orlando for game 3, which will be played on Friday.
“It does not become a series until the local team loses …”, said Magic coach Jamahl Mosley. “Our crowd is one of the best in the League. That energy is something we are going to need.”
In the other games, the sown East Top, Cleveland, contained Miami 121-112 when Donovan Mitchell scored 17 or its 30 points in the fourth quarter and the tok cavs are a series of 2-0 in series three on Saturday in Miami.
In Houston, Jalen Green scored 38 points and the Rockets hosts defeated the Golden State Warriors 109-94 to level his West Conference series in 1-1 with the three game in San Francisco on Saturday.
Making the most painful night for the seventh warriors sown was to lose Jimmy Butler III for a pelvic contusion at the end of the first quarter. The rest of the game was lost and went to a magnetic resonance exam.
“Jimmy always says he will be fine,” said the Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “But we have to wait and see with magnetic resonance.”
The second Houston sown never continued, building an advantage of up to 20 points in the second half and responding to all the Rally stresses by Golden State.
“Houston played very well,” Kerr said. “They were really physical. They came out very strongly defensively … It was their night. They played a great game at both ends of the floor.”
Without the versatile butlent on the floor, Golden State relaces largely in its 3 -point shot and was 173 (39.5 percent) from long reach. Together with a poor effort of 11 of 18 in the free throw line, Golden State could not gather enough offensive.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 20 points. The Turkish star Alperen Sengun added 17 points and 16 rebounds for Houston.
🏆 Playoff Support 🏆
▪️ CLE, BOS extends the series leads to 2-0
▪To keep the 1-1 draw seriesHe #NBAPLAYOFFS Presented by Google continues on Thursday when game 3 starts with 3 games in TNT and NBA TV! pic.twitter.com/NKBLTWY8P3
– NBA (@NBA) April 24, 2025