NBA roundup: Celtics, Cavs take control, Butler injured in Rockets' win over Warriors

Despite being bloodied and bruised, the defending champion Boston Celtics issued a warning to NBA opponents looking to intimidate them with a physical approach, asserting their readiness to engage in a tough contest.

Jaylen Brown led the way with 36 points, hitting 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, as the Celtics triumphed over Orlando 109-100 on Wednesday, taking a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference first round best-of-seven series, which resumes Friday in Orlando.

The Celtics played without their six-time All-Star forward Jason Tatum, who is their leader in points, rebounds, and assists, missing his first playoff game after 114 appearances due to a bruised right wrist sustained in the series opener.

Boston's center Kristaps Porzingis contributed 20 points and matched Brown and Al Horford with 10 rebounds, despite suffering a bloody gash on his forehead late in the third quarter from a collision with Orlando center Goga Bitadze, which required five stitches.

"It was a tough, physical game. Nothing easy on either side. Every rebound is a war and it's probably going to be that way for the rest of the series," Porzingis said.

"We're going to be us. We're not going to let anybody punk us."

Latvia's Porzingis said the Celtics expect a body-banging style from opponents and Boston will be ready to respond in kind.

"We expect teams to be doing this kind of stuff, to get in our heads, try to provoke us, get some reaction out of us," Porzingis said.

"We weren't surprised but we're just not going to take it. We're going to hit them right back."

In other matchups, the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers managed to fend off the Miami Heat with a score of 121-112, thanks to Donovan Mitchell, who scored 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, giving the Cavs a 2-0 lead in the series ahead of game three on Saturday in Miami.

Meanwhile, in Houston, Jalen Green's impressive 38-point performance led the Rockets to a 109-94 victory over the Golden State Warriors, tying their Western Conference series at 1-1, with game three set for Saturday in San Francisco.

The Warriors faced a setback as Jimmy Butler suffered a pelvis contusion following a hard fall due to a foul by Houston's Amen Thompson, with an MRI scheduled for Thursday to assess the injury's severity.

Additionally, Alperen Sengun contributed 17 points and 16 rebounds for Houston, while Stephen Curry was the top scorer for the Warriors with 20 points.

After a hard knock to the floor, Porzingis briefly left the game for treatment but returned to shoot his free throws before rejoining the game with 7:15 remaining, sporting a smaller bandage.

"This one was just a quick flash, a quick cut, but I saw the amount of blood as soon as I looked at my hand so I knew it was going to be some stitches for sure," Porzingis said, comparing the action to the violence of pro wrestling.

"I love my 'WWE' moments for sure," Porzingis said. "It just happens in the game. I knew getting hit again, blood again, crowd was going to go with it. It's cool. It was fine."

Boston led 81-71 entering the fourth quarter and the Magic got no closer than five points after that.

"We didn't play up to our level," Porzingis said. "I expect us to be better going forward."

In the first game, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope of Orlando fouled Tatum during the injury incident, and in the second game, he tripped over Horford. Prior to the escalation of the incident in the second quarter, both players were held back.

The Celtics recorded an 8-2 record in the regular season without Tatum, with both defeats occurring against Orlando.

"We've got a lot of talent so it just comes down to being ready," Brown said. "We came out and were aggressive."

During the game in Cleveland, the Heat found themselves down 53-34 in the second quarter. However, they fought back, launching an 11-1 run to narrow the gap to 101-99 with 4:25 left on the clock, before Mitchell took over in the final moments.

"It was one of those 'superstar takes over game' situations," Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. "He hit some big-time shots."

"Just trying to find my rhythm," Mitchell said. "My job is just to lead every single night in any way possible. Tonight it was go score."

Miami's Tyler Herro scored 33 in a losing cause. Cleveland also had 21 points from Darius Garland and 20 from Evan Mobley.