The Celtics missed Jrue Holiday in their Game 3 loss to the Magic.

With Holiday — one of the team’s top defenders and primary ball-handlers — sidelined with a hamstring injury Friday night, Boston turned in a performance that ranked among their sloppiest of the season. Orlando won 95-93 at the Kia Center to avoid falling into a 3-0 hole in the best-of-seven first-round series.

“You always want to have your whole team, your players, your most effective players,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said Saturday in a video conference. “We’ve grown to have an identity just because of how this season has gone, with every guy stepping up and doing what it takes to win. But at the same time, you do miss some of that stuff in the playoffs. And he’s played well in the first two games.”

Holiday played highly effective defense against Magic stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner in Games 1 and 2 while also providing timely scoring, especially in Boston’s series-opening victory. The Celtics held up well enough defensively without him in Game 3, with Orlando unable to surpass 100 points for the third straight game, but their offense was a mess.

The uber-physical Magic forced Boston into a season-high 21 turnovers — including 13 by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who were listed as questionable before the game — and neutered the Celtics’ record-setting 3-point attack (nine makes on a season-low 27 attempts). Boston also got little from its supporting cast, with only Tatum (36 points), Brown (19) and Derrick White (16) scoring more than seven points in the loss. Top bench shooters Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser combined for just three points and attempted one total 3-pointer.

“I mean, (Holiday’s) intangibles are endless — the mentality that he plays with, the selflessness that he plays with,” Mazzulla said. “But (also) the physicality and the toughness and defensive versatility, his ability to guard different positions, his ability to pressure the basketball, his ability to take tendencies from individual teams — just make winning plays. whether it’s our offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding, screening, another ball-handler to have out there versus pressure, and then in transition, he can create advantages for others with his screening and his pace.”

Holiday’s backcourt partner didn’t downplay the impact of his absence.

“I mean, honestly, you can’t replace what Jrue Holiday brings on both sides of the ball,” White said. “So everybody kind of has a little bit different role and responsibility on both sides (when he’s out). Jrue’s a heck of a player, and obviously we’re a better team with him, but everybody’s just got to take a step up when he’s not out there.”

Will Holiday be able to return for Game 4 on Sunday night?

“He’s doing well,” Mazzulla said. “He’s day to day. Just taking it one day at a time, kind of seeing how he comes out of it.”

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Forty-six points

Mazzulla referenced one number several times during morning-after conference call: 46.

“Out of the (95) points (Orlando scored in Game 3), 46 of those came on points off turnovers, offensive rebounds and free throws,” the Celtics coach emphasized. “So you just can’t be blinded by anything other than the details. It’s very simple. … The game is won in the margins. It’s won in the trenches of those things, and you have to fight like hell to win those.”

The Magic owned a 26-8 edge in points off turnovers, scored 16 second-chance points (on 15 offensive boards) and went 19-for-26 at the foul line. Lowering all of those numbers will be a priority for the Celtics in Game 4.

“It still comes down to the details,” Mazzulla said. “It still comes down to the trenches, the margins, and you have to cut those 46 points down. The physicality in the rebounding, that’s a part of it. The physicality in defending without fouling is a part of it, and owning your space and valuing the basketball and turnovers — all those things add up to the physicality and the stuff that we’re talking about.”

Mazzulla backs Porzingis

This series has featured two of Kristaps Porzingis’ worst games of the season: a five-point showing in Game 1 and a seven-point dud Friday night, during which the Boston big man tallied as many fouls (four) as made field goals and free throws combined.

Porzingis also struggled defensively in Game 3. He allowed Wagner to score layups on back-to-back late-game possessions, the second of which proved to be the game-winner for Orlando. Porzingis took responsibility for his poor performance postgame, admitting he “played like (expletive).”

Mazzulla deflected criticism away from his scuffling center when asked about Porzingis on Saturday.

“I mean, everyone — I have to be better, and the guys have to be better,” he said. “And he does a great job of finding a balance and taking accountability. I don’t think it’s ever as bad as what you think it is. I thought he had some good possessions. I thought he had some good looks against some mismatches that he has to make. And after a game like that, everyone’s doing that. I’m doing that; all the players are doing that. You’ve just got to look at the 10 to 15 possessions that you have to get better at, the possessions that I can be better at, and you just get ready for the next one.”

One area Porzingis must improve is his shooting, which was one of his primary strengths over the final several months of the regular season. Through three playoff games, he’s shooting just 28.1% from the field and is 0-for-10 from 3-point range.

The only Celtics regular with a lower field-goal percentage is Hauser, who has yet to make a shot in this series (0-for-4). Hauser and Porzingis ranked first and second on the team in 3-point shooting percentage during the regular season (41.6% and 41.2%, respectively).

“My shot’s feeling a little janky right now, I’m not going to lie,” Porzingis said Friday night. “But I have to keep shooting. What else am I going to do? I’m going to keep shooting.”

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Game 5 tip announced

With three Eastern Conference playoff games scheduled for Tuesday night, the NBA placed Celtics-Magic Game 5 in the latest timeslot. That game will tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET at TD Garden, preceded by Milwaukee-Indiana at 6 p.m. and Detroit-New York at 7:30 p.m.

If it’s anything like Friday’s slog, Celtics fans are in for a late night.

Game 3 of Boston-Orlando took two hours and 47 minutes to complete, making it the longest game of the season for both teams, per Basketball-Reference. The Celtics’ longest regular-season game that didn’t go to overtime was a full 20 minutes shorter (2:27 vs. Dallas on Jan. 25).

The last non-OT Celtics game that lasted at least 2:47 was a full decade ago: Game 4 of their first-round playoff series against the Cavaliers in 2015, which took 2:50 to play. That game, which Cleveland won to eliminate the Brad Stevens-led C’s, was similarly physical. It featured 63 personal fouls, two flagrants, two technicals and one ejection, which J.R. Smith earned for dropping Jae Crowder with a spinning backhand.

Celtics-Magic Game 2 also was a grind, clocking in at two hours, 30 minutes. Only four of Boston’s regular-season games were longer, and all four needed overtime.