{"id":436,"date":"2025-04-26T02:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T02:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/436\/"},"modified":"2025-04-26T02:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T02:50:11","slug":"nba-playoffs-warriors-lose-despite-curry-heroics-celtics-beat-orlando-basketball-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/436\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA playoffs: Warriors lose despite Curry heroics; Celtics beat Orlando | Basketball News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__subhead\">Boston, without top scorer Tatum, were pushed by Miami while Houston levelled their series with Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n<p>Bloodied and bruised, defending champions Boston Celtics have outlasted Orlando to seize command of their NBA playoff series while the Cleveland Cavaliers maintained their series lead over Miami Heat.<\/p>\n<p>Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 36 points as the Celtics overcame the absence of leading scorer Jayson Tatum to beat the visiting Magic 109-100 on Wednesday in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.<\/p>\n<p>Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the second-seeded Celtics, who have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s been great and consistent throughout the season,\u201d Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said about Brown. \u201cHe can take it to another level mentally and physically, and he did that for his team tonight. At the end of the day, he\u2019s willing to do whatever it takes for us to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Orlando used an 8-0 run to pull within five points early in the fourth quarter, but the Magic never got any closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought we played with a lot of heart, a lot of character,\u201d said Magic forward Franz Wagner. \u201cWe made a bunch of runs in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tatum, who averaged 26.8 points per game during the regular season, didn\u2019t play in Game 2 because of a bone bruise. He was knocked to the floor while driving to the basket in the fourth quarter of Boston\u2019s 103-86 Game 1 win on Sunday. Tatum returned to the game but was listed as \u201cdoubtful\u201d for Game 2 before the team\u2019s final injury report officially ruled him out.<\/p>\n<p>Derrick White (17), Payton Pritchard (14) and Jrue Holiday (11) also scored in double figures for the Celtics.<\/p>\n<p>The series shifts to Orlando for Game 3, which will be played on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t become a series until the home team loses \u2026\u201d said Magic coach Jamahl Mosley. \u201cOur crowd is one of the best in the league. That energy is something we\u2019re gonna need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-3665158\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AFP__20250424__2211703465__v2__HighRes__GoldenStateWarriorsVHoustonRocketsGameTwo-1745476239.jpg\" alt=\"HOUSTON, TEXAS - APRIL 23: Jalen Green #4 of the Houston Rockets reacts after a three-point shot in the second half against the Golden State Warriors in Game Two of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center on April 23, 2025 in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Tim Warner\/Getty Images\/AFP (Photo by Tim Warner \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ Getty Images via AFP)\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/>Jalen Green led the way in Houston Rockets\u2019 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game Two of the Western Conference first-round NBA Playoffs in Houston, Texas [Tim Warner\/Getty Images via AFP]<\/p>\n<p>In the other games, East top seed Cleveland held off visiting Miami 121-112 as Donovan Mitchell scored 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and the Cavs took a 2-0 series edge with game three on Saturday in Miami.<\/p>\n<p>At Houston, Jalen Green scored 38 points and the hosts Rockets beat Golden State Warriors 109-94 to level their Western Conference series at 1-1 with game three in San Francisco on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Making the night more painful for the seventh-seeded Warriors was losing Jimmy Butler III to a pelvic contusion late in the first quarter. He missed the remainder of the game and was headed for an MRI exam.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJimmy always says he\u2019s going to be fine,\u201d said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. \u201cBut we have to wait and see with the MRI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Second-seeded Houston never trailed, building a lead of as many as 20 points in the second half and answering every Golden State rally effort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHouston played great,\u201d said Kerr. \u201cThey were really physical. They came out with a lot of force defensively. \u2026 It was their night. They played a great game on both ends of the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Without the versatile Butler on the floor, Golden State relied heavily on its 3-point shooting and went 17-for-43 (39.5 percent) from long range. Coupled with a poor 11-of-18 effort at the free-throw line, Golden State could not muster enough offence.<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 20 points. Turkish star Alperen Sengun added 17 points and 16 rebounds for Houston.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\udfc6 PLAYOFF BRACKET \ud83c\udfc6<\/p>\n<p>\u25aa\ufe0f CLE, BOS extend series lead to 2-0<br \/>\u25aa\ufe0f HOU ties series 1-1 <\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NBAPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#NBAPlayoffs<\/a> presented by Google continue Thursday as Game 3&#8217;s begin with 3 games on TNT &amp; NBA TV! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NKBLtwy8P3\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/NKBLtwy8P3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1915271684866933033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 24, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston, without top scorer Tatum, were pushed by Miami while Houston levelled their series with Golden State Warriors.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,6,11,67,275,417,418],"class_list":{"0":"post-436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nba-playoffs","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-sport","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-us-canada"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}