The title defense continues for the Boston Celtics after winning their opening round series in this 2025 NBA Playoffs.
Enduring a tough and highly physical slugfest all series long, the Boston Celtics ultimately prevailed, sealing a gentleman’s sweep with a wire-to-wire 120-89 Game 5 smackdown win over the Orlando Magic on April 29 in TD Garden.
In a high-scoring win that saw a collective effort for the defending champs, it was Jayson Tatum who took charge. The Celtics superstar continued shrugging off the wrist issues he sustained in the series start, exploding with 35 points and 10 assists to send the Magic home.
Jaylen Brown provided 23 points and six rebounds, while Payton Pritchard was huge off the bench as the newly-minted Sixth Man of the Year had 10 markers and three boards.
The Celtics are now just in comfortable waiting mode, ready to anticipate who will come out between the New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons from the separate first-round bracket of the Eastern Conference.
Jayson Tatum relishes chance to go against Paolo Banchero
Although they emerged bruised and battered, the Celtics savored the experience they gained from the young and gutsy Magic squad.
Besides making a historic milestone, no Celtic seemed to enjoy the series more than Jayson Tatum, as it gave him an opportunity to go toe-to-toe against Paolo Banchero.
After they conquered the Play-In Tournament, the young Magic superstar also expressed enthusiasm of going up against Tatum, who he considers as his close brother both and off the court.
The two share similarities in terms of their basketball position and play style. They were also a proud collegiate basketball product of the Duke Blue Devils.
In his postgame presser, Tatum offered his flowers for the impressive growth and stand that the 22-year-old presented against him throughout the 2025 postseason.
“I mean, it’s cool,” Tatum said. “I got to talk to him a little bit in the hallway after the game. I didn’t say two words to him during the series.
“That’s tough. But that’s part of competing—just trying to have that edge throughout the series.
“I couldn’t be happier for him and the player that he’s become. From Duke and year after year, he was unbelievable this series.”
Tatum can’t wait for more battles to come between him and Banchero
Despite being heavily decimated from injuries headlined by Jalen Suggs, the Magic demonstrated a commendable fight against the reigning champs behind the leadership of Banchero.
In the entire five-game series, the Orlando forward strongly averaged 29.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists across 39.4 minutes to carry the Magic. He also tallied an efficient 44.4 percent rate from the three-point distance.
What he showed against the Celtics was convincing for former NBA star Matt Barnes to call him one of the league’s future faces.
He might have gotten him in this year’s playoffs, but Tatum is pretty much confident that there are still a lot more battles to come between him and Banchero.
“He made it tough on us. He’s a matchup nightmare and he’s only going to continue to get better and better,” Tatum added.
“I’m certain that we’ll have many more battles in the upcoming years.”
