ORLANDO >> For the second straight game, the Celtics took the court Sunday night in Orlando without one of their starters.

Guard Jrue Holiday was unavailable for Game 4 of Boston’s first-round playoff series as he recovered from a right hamstring strain. Holiday also sat out Game 3 on Friday, and the Celtics missed his defensive capabilities and penchant for winning plays in a 95-93 loss at the Kia Center.

“We talked about this before, different guys stepping in,” big man Al Horford, Holiday’s replacement in the starting lineup, said at morning shootaround. “We all need to step up a little more and find a way. Jrue does so much for us, but right now, we have to face things the way that they are now and find a way.”

Entering Sunday, the Celtics were just 8-7 this season in games Holiday missed, with two of their wins requiring overtime. The 34-year-old was one of Boston’s best players in its Game 1 victory over Orlando, playing lockdown defense against Magic stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner and leading a third-quarter rally that broke the game open.

“I mean, honestly, you can’t replace what Jrue Holiday brings on both sides of the ball,” fellow guard Derrick White said Friday.

The rest of Boston’s regulars were active Sunday, with Jaylen Brown upgraded from questionable to available before tipoff. Brown has been battling a nagging knee injury since before the All-Star break, but he averaged 35.3 minutes per game over the Celtics’ first three playoff contests.

Porzingis, Pritchard X-factors

Among the Celtics’ priorities entering Game 4 in Orlando: helping Kristaps Porzingis play to his potential.

The Boston big man played, in his own words, “like (expletive)” in the Celtics’ Game 3 loss on Friday, finishing with seven points on 3-of-10 shooting and struggling on the defensive end.

Teammate Payton Pritchard said a more impactful Porzingis performance would be “huge” for the Celtics as they looked to take a 3-1 series lead Sunday night.

“It’s huge,” Pritchard said before Game 4. “If he can dominate the paint, we get him going, that changes the flow of the game. If we can get him to get two (defenders) onto the ball, that will also allow some of our shooters to get easier looks. But a lot of that comes off pick-and-rolls, him sealing. Obviously, he’s a mismatch, so we’ll definitely look for him.”

Porzingis excelled at finding mismatches and drawing fouls in Game 2 (20 points, 10 rebounds, 10-for-14 from the foul line), but his shot has been uncharacteristically erratic throughout the series. Over the first three games, he shot just 28.1% from the floor and was 0-for-10 from 3-point range, far cries from his regular-season shooting percentages of 48.3% and 41.2% from three.

“I haven’t said anything to him, but Kristaps is a great competitor,” Horford said. “I know he’ll respond, and he’ll be ready to go.”

The Magic, who prefer to defend 1-on-1 and deny opportunities for open 3-pointers, succeeded in neutralizing that core aspect of Boston’s offense in Game 3. The Celtics attempted just 27 threes in the 95-93 loss — six fewer than their previous season low, which also came against Orlando. Their nine 3-point makes were tied for their third-fewest this season.

Beyond Porzingis’ struggles, Boston also got little from its secondary scorers as Jayson Tatum, Brown and White accounted for 71 of the team’s 93 points. Pritchard and Sam Hauser, who are capable of swinging games with their perimeter shooting off the bench, combined for just three field-goal attempts, three points and four turnovers.

Pritchard did not attempt a 3-pointer for just the second time this season (the other instance was against, you guessed it, Orlando). Hauser, who entered Sunday scoreless this postseason, went 0-for-1. Both players shot better than 40% from deep during the regular season.

“I just feel like they’re denying off-ball,” said Pritchard, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year. “They’re not allowing catch-and-shoot shots. They’re not allowing quick swings, stuff like that. But there’s different ways I need to get open and create openings for teammates.”

He added: “I’m looking to be better (in Game 4) than I definitely was the other night.”

Pritchard and Horford both said the Celtics would look to play with more pace Sunday night against the Magic’s tough, hyper-physical defense.

“Transition, pace of play,” Pritchard said. “I feel like if you get into a half-court set, they’re very big, they’re long, they’re good in half-court. So I feel like even on makes, we’ve got to get it out quick and push the pace. Obviously, that’s where I like to play, but I think a majority of our team, we’re very efficient when we get it down the court rather than walking it up and by the time we get in our offense, there’s 10 or 12 seconds (on the shot clock). That allows them to (defend) 1-on-1, and they’re going to live with a contested shot. So it’s stuff like that.”

Magic unbothered by C’s gripes

The Celtics haven’t been happy with what they’ve viewed as over-the-top physicality from the Magic in this series.

Orlando couldn’t care less — and doesn’t plan on changing its approach.

“I don’t think much of it,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said before Game 4. “I really just focus on our team and how we can continue to play and do the things that we need to do to do the things that we need to do to be successful.”

The Magic were called for a flagrant foul in each of the first three games of the best-of-seven series, and all three resulted in injuries to Celtics players. The first knocked Tatum out for Game 2 with a bone bruise in his wrist. The second left Porzingis with a gash on his forehead. Brown dislocated his index finger on his non-shooting hand on the third, which occurred during Friday night’s Celtics loss.

“There might be a fight break out or something, because it’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball,” Brown said after that game.

Mosley, whose team committed the fifth-most fouls in the NBA during the regular season, was asked whether he views those complaints as a compliment.

“I don’t know if it’s necessarily a compliment,” he replied. “I think it’s just us playing Orlando Magic basketball, and we’ve had that since we’ve been here. So at the end of the day, it’s just us being who we are. We own that, and we accept it, and that’s just who we’re going to be.”

Magic players echoed their coach.

“We don’t play a non-contact game,” guard Cole Anthony, who committed the flagrant foul on Brown in Game 3, told reporters Sunday morning, via SI.com. “We play a physical game. This is a contact sport. You’ve got to be ready to get touched.”

Off the rim

Earlier Sunday, the New York Knicks knocked off the Detroit Pistons in dramatic and controversial fashion to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round series. Officials admitted after the game that New York’s Josh Hart should have been called for a foul when he made contact with Tim Hardaway Jr. on a last-second 3-pointer. But he wasn’t, and the Knicks escaped with a 94-93 win. The winner of that series will face the Celtics-Magic victor in the Eastern Conference semifinals.