The bumps and bruises of an NBA season have hit Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum hard the last two games.
Tatum suffered a left ankle sprain Sunday thanks to a Giannis Antetokounmpo closeout, causing him to be questionable for Tuesday night’s NBA Cup matchup against the Atlanta Hawks. Tatum played, but he reaggravated the injury late in Boston’s stunning 117-116 loss to the Hawks at TD Garden.
Tatum tweaked the area with 4:29 left in the fourth quarter after blocking Larry Nance Jr. around the rim. Tatum landed on Nance’s foot, hopped around in pain for a brief moment before making his way up the court and playing the rest of the game.
The five-time All-Star was clearly hobbled by the injury, but he reassured everyone that he wouldn’t miss any time coming up.
“Yeah, I’m going to play (Wednesday),” Tatum told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston, with the Celtics set to go up against the Brooklyn Nets on the second night of back-to-back. “It’s a little tender. It was like two minutes left in the game, so just had to push through.”
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The Celtics might have different ideas about playing Tatum, though, especially with how he looked after he came down on Nance’s foot. Tatum moved around gingerly on the court and played tentatively as he took only one shot — a wide open corner 3-pointer with Boson trailing by a point in the final seconds — and missed it over the final stretch. He also committed a turnover.
Tatum finished with 20 points on an inefficient 5-for-16 shooting from the field, including hitting just 2-of-9 3-pointers. He contributed eight assists and six rebounds as well in 37 minutes.
Tatum doesn’t like to sit out games and certainly will do everything he can to be on the floor against the Nets. But with it being so early in the season, the Celtics may have to take that decision out of his hands this time around.
Featured image via David Butler II/Imagn Images
