What Jayson Tatum Thought After Tweaking Ankle Again Vs. Clippers

Jayson Tatum’s 30-point afternoon in Los Angeles on Saturday didn’t come without a little pain.

Tatum tweaked his ankle while coming down on a 3-point shot with a little over four minutes left to play in the fourth quarter. It was the same left ankle the Celtics superstar dinged up Tuesday night in San Francisco, and the injury kept him out of Boston’s road win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.

After the Celtics’ 145-108 demolition of the Clippers, Tatum was asked what went through his mind when he hurt his ankle for the second time in four days.

“This is some (expletive),” Tatum told reporters. “But it was taped up well and it was just a small tweak, so I was able to keep playing and I felt fine after that.”

Tatum didn’t show any signs of being bothered by his ankle in the penultimate contest of Boston’s four-game West Coast road trip. The four-time All-Star looked especially healthy late in the first quarter when he drove down the baseline and posterized former teammate Daniel Theis.

The Celtics franchise cornerstone will try to avoid another ankle tweak on Christmas Day when Boston visits LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers for an early evening showdown.