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By Seth Quinn
Contributing Sports Writer
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The Boston Celtics cruised to victory in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Orlando Magic by a final score of 103-86.
In what was a physical affair, both teams struggled to score, but the Celtics pulled away in the second half behind a balanced scoring attack and some prolific shooting from Derrick White and Payton Pritchard.
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Part of that physical play led to star forward Jayson Tatum falling hard on his right wrist after getting fouled on a layup attempt.
Tatum was clearly hurt after the play, but toughed it out, missing both free throws after the foul but later hitting a three-pointer.
However, that must've been on the back of an adrenaline rush, because after being listed as doubtful on the initial injury report, Tatum has been ruled out for Game 2 on Thursday.
The Celtics will dearly miss Tatum, but have the talent to make up for it. Tatum is normally the team's leading scorer, but the team has plenty of other scorers, such as the previously mentioned White and Pritchard, and of course, secondary star Jaylen Brown.
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The team will have more of a problem making up for Tatum's rebounding, size, and versatility on both ends of the floor. If Tatum is out, that likely means Jaylen Brown has to slide to power forward, which isn't the most ideal considering he is already a shooting guard playing small forward.
The Magic also have lots of size with Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr., and Jonathan Isaac, so having less size could be a problem for the Celtics.
Thankfully for them, they are a championship-proven roster that is certainly capable of adapting their play, and Joe Mazzulla is a fantastic, albeit still somewhat inexperienced, head coach.
The team still has the firepower to beat the Magic without Tatum, but it may take some creativity to keep their well-oiled machine running.
Even when Tatum isn't scoring, just his presence draws a lot of attention, and his isolation ability from behind the arc is something no other player really has the skill for on the roster.
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That was evident in Game 1, where Tatum scored just 17 points on eight of 22 shooting and one of eight from three, but had the highest plus-minus on the team in 40 minutes played.
Game 2 will certainly be a huge test for the Celtics and their fight to repeat as champions, with Tatum out with injury. If they are able to still play well, that could even give Tatum an excuse to rest, although before missing this game, he had never missed a playoff game in his NBA career, playing and starting a total of 114 playoff games.
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