'It Swung the Game': How Paolo Banchero's 5th Foul Took Orlando Out of Game 5, Playoffs

BOSTON – The Orlando Magic's defense was stifling, fighting through customary poor shooting to bring a dogfight to the defending champions.

While that's usual for Jamahl Mosley's team, their opposition looked anything but its normal self.

The Boston Celtic offense, one of the most potent ever in league history, was meeting its match from the Magic defense. Because of it, Game 5 of the first-round, best-of-seven playoff series was hanging in the balance. So, too, was the Magic's season.

However, a series of three whistles – all against Orlando's Paolo Banchero – completely turned Tuesday night on its head, helping to cement it as the last of the Magic's roller coaster 2024-25 season.

Banchero picked up his third and fourth fouls of the night less than a minute after the game's resumption in the second half – one on a charge and one on a shooting foul. Orlando, unable to afford to play without one of its two best players for any longer than a couple minutes at a time all series long, gambled and opted to leave Banchero on the floor.

That gamble quickly, and perhaps controversially, lost.

Ahead 53-51 as the clock dipped under 10 minutes left in the third, Boston's Jaylen Brown saw Banchero across from him and drove the right side of the lane. Banchero, careful not to pick up a fifth foul, offered little resistance to Brown's attack, who got to his spot while Banchero raised his arms high above his 6-10 frame.

It didn't matter. Brown elevated for a lay-in, and while it found nylon, Brown's elbow found Banchero's face. The whistle blew, and Banchero had his unwanted fifth foul.

"I was trying my best not to foul," Banchero said. "I knew I had four fouls. I felt like I stopped short of him going up, and he went up with his elbows out, hit me in the face, and they called it on me.

"I've never in my career – NBA or before – picked up three fouls that quickly. I told the refs that. I told them how I felt. I told them that two of the three weren't fouls, but they saw it a different way."

The refs called a foul on Paolo Banchero here on Jaylen Brown

Thoughts??? pic.twitter.com/0ZgiH2yiE8
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) April 30, 2025

Asked postgame what explanation he got for Banchero's fifth foul, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said he had "no idea" what it was.

"All I saw was Paolo getting an elbow to the face or backed into the face, and he got the foul," Mosley said. "That was a game-changer right there. Your best player picks up his fifth foul in the third quarter, it becomes tough to come back from that moment."

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown is fouled by Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero as he drives for a layup in the third quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs against the Orlando Magic at TD Garden. | Barry Chin, Boston Globe (via Getty Images)

Orlando burned its coach's challenge to question the call, but a quick review process confirmed the on-court call.

In a postgame pool report, crew chief Tony Brothers provided insight into the review decision and said Brown's contact with Banchero's face was "incidental.

"Brown's action did not rise to the level of anything outside of just the common foul on Banchero," Brothers explained. "Everything that happened was as a result of him continuing to walk [Brown] under the basket and him jumping back in a normal shooting motion."

Regarding the two fouls prior, Mosley added: "What I saw was the fact that he was driving to the basket and not getting calls. In those moments, there's a level of frustration that can kick in when they're impeding your progress to the rim. And so, they give him one charge and then they give another one where it's a touch foul. Then at the same time, he's going to the rim, they're bodying him out of the way and there's no call. And again, they see it, we see it, but it doesn't get [called].

"And then he picks up his fifth foul on what could have possibly been an offensive foul. That's where it becomes frustrating, because I don't understand what we're calling in that moment."

Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley watches from the sideline as they take on the Boston Celtics during game five of first round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at TD Garden. | David Butler II-Imagn Images

A mere moments later, Magic guard Cory Joseph picked up a similar defensive foul when Joseph caught an elbow from Brown while the Celtic wing elevated for a midrange jumper.

"Not sure what that rule is," Banchero said. "Maybe I have a misunderstanding of what the rule is there."

Banchero's dad didn't understand, either, sharing in a social media post Tuesday night that the officiating was "a discredit to the league."

.......at this point it's a discredit to the league. Smh
— Mario Banchero (@MarioBanchero) April 30, 2025

Regardless, the Magic had no choice but to retire Banchero to the bench and try to survive without him while saving him for later in the game.

They did not.

"He's the life source for their team, and he's a phenomenal young player," Brown said postgame. "But once we saw him get in foul trouble and then hang his head, we were ready to go. So we just took advantage of that from there."

Orlando's defense had to alter its plans, and the Magic offense was suddenly without one of its only reliable offensive creators. Boston shellshocked its visitors with a 30-9 close to the quarter, and 67-36 over the remainder of the game after the fifth foul.

"It kind of ruined our flow," Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. said postgame. "[The] game was moving kind of fast at that point. Yeah, it was tough for us ... Tough moment for anyone who had to fill in his shoes."

"It definitely swung the series," Mosley said. "It definitely swung the game."

Franz Wagner said he felt good about the Magic's mindset coming out of the timeout where Banchero sat, and the message was to have Banchero's back.

"Obviously, it didn't go our way," Wagner said.

The Magic unraveled as every mistake made was magnified. Boston's scoring attack kicked into gear and then some, finally finding the avalanche of triples it hadn't yet had throughout the series. After a 0-6 first half beyond the arc, the Celtics made 13 of 18 treys in to close out Orlando. Boston scored on the final 10 possessions of the overpowering third quarter.

At the same time, the Magic missed 19 straight three-point attempts between the second and third quarters. Already overmatched heading into the series on paper, the Magic struggled even more so without one of their only sources of offense.

"They made a lot of threes in that third and fourth quarter, and we struggled to score once Paolo went out," Wagner said. "I thought [we got] a couple good looks that just didn't go, a couple bad possessions as well, and they went on a big run."

While it was far from the only reason Orlando's season came to an unceremonious end Tuesday, Banchero's forced sideline watching was a major factor in the lopsided loss.

"If I'm able to be in the game, that doesn't happen, Banchero said. "It's hard for the team to withstand me going out for that long. You saw that in the third quarter. That's just a tough spot for our team to be in."

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