Celtics should fight urge to retaliate vs. Magic in physical first-rou

Jaylen Brown is fed up. It’s hard to blame him.

The Orlando Magic have injured three Boston players with three flagrant fouls through three postseason games. Jayson Tatum bruised his wrist after Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s hard foul took him to the floor in Game 1, Kristaps Porzingis needed five stitches after Goga Bitadze’s elbow split his forehead in Game 2, and Brown dislocated a finger after an excessive foul by Cole Anthony early in Game 3.

Once is chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern. Now Brown is wondering out loud if the Celtics will be forced to match Orlando’s energy in this series.

“There might be a fight break out or something,” Brown said after Boston’s Game 3 loss in Orlando. “Because it’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball, and the refs are not controlling the environment. So, it is what it is.

“If you want to fight it out, we can do that. We can fight to see who goes to the second round.”

Jaylen Brown reveals he dislocated his index finger in Game 3, and discusses how the Celtics can respond to Orlando’s physicality in Game 4.

While we are largely unopposed to this first-round matchup turning into WrestleMania, it should be stressed that it is not in Boston’s best interest to get dragged into Orlando’s shenanigans. The Magic are using increased physicality to mask an obvious talent discrepancy, and the Celtics would only be playing into Orlando’s hands to allow its antics to sap their focus.

So, as much as Celtics fans might like to see Torrey Craig dispatched to drop an Orlando player, it’s unlikely to solve what’s truly keeping the Magic in this series.

The Celtics need to fight. They need to fight for better shots. They need to fight to protect the basketball and maximize possessions. And they need to fight the urge to retaliate.

Orlando’s length and physicality has absolutely bothered Boston. The Celtics owned the third-best half-court offense in…