- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 471,520
- Reaction score
- 45
The worst possible outcome happened for the Boston Celtics on Monday night.
And it’s not the Celtics heading back to TD Garden — where the Knicks won Games 1 and 2 — facing a 3-1 deficit.
It’s that Boston’s star Jayson Tatum suffered an apparent serious right leg injury in the final minutes of the 121-113 defeat inside Madison Garden. By the looks of it, Tatum will be out for Game 5 — and perhaps much longer — while the Celtics try to rally and defend their title.
But no Tatum for Game 5 doesn’t mean the Celtics are thinking about getting ready for an early offseason vacation.
That isn’t the overall feeling in the locker room — or at least for Kristaps Porzingis.
“That’s the thing, we have the talent, we have a lot of talent,” the former Knick, who has been dealing with an illness himself that is also leaving the Celtics a bit shorthanded, said.
“Even with JT out, even me maybe playing 10-15 minutes, we have the guys and we’ve shown in the past that we can play still really good basketball. Obviously, like, there’s no replacement for this guy, no? Like, this is a big hit for us, 100 percent. But again, we have to play with the hand we’re dealt right now, and this is it. Going forward, maybe not, maybe not. Who knows? I don’t know. But we’re gonna play with what we have.”
The Celtics, in fact, do have a talented roster.
They roster nearly touches $200 million in total cap allocations, features four players (aside from Tatum) that have made an appearance in an All-Star Game, has a Sixth Man of the Year winner and another player with multiple All-Defensive Team selections.
But none of them are of the caliber of Tatum, who averaged 28.1 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.1 steals in eight games played in the 2025 postseason. That includes Monday’s loaded statline: 42 points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks. He shot 16-for-28, including seven makes from downtown.
Like Porzingis said, there’s no one replacement for Tatum. But he believes the team has to manage emotions if they want to come back from a 3-1 deficit without the best player on the floor.
“We’re grown men, you know? Who hasn’t had injuries? It’s a part of this sport, part of this game, and we feel for him, of course,” Porzingis said. “But we have to move forward. He doesn’t want us to be sad and not playing our best basketball. So we’re going to go out there and leave it all out there and live with the results.
“Again, these things happen. Obviously we all felt for him in that moment, but we just have to keep going, we have to keep playing. Obviously we all realized in our heads what this could mean, but again, this is part of the sport, it’s tough, and it’s hard to see and hard to accept the truth but it is what it is and we have to go forward with what we have now.”
Continue reading...
And it’s not the Celtics heading back to TD Garden — where the Knicks won Games 1 and 2 — facing a 3-1 deficit.
It’s that Boston’s star Jayson Tatum suffered an apparent serious right leg injury in the final minutes of the 121-113 defeat inside Madison Garden. By the looks of it, Tatum will be out for Game 5 — and perhaps much longer — while the Celtics try to rally and defend their title.
But no Tatum for Game 5 doesn’t mean the Celtics are thinking about getting ready for an early offseason vacation.
That isn’t the overall feeling in the locker room — or at least for Kristaps Porzingis.
“That’s the thing, we have the talent, we have a lot of talent,” the former Knick, who has been dealing with an illness himself that is also leaving the Celtics a bit shorthanded, said.
“Even with JT out, even me maybe playing 10-15 minutes, we have the guys and we’ve shown in the past that we can play still really good basketball. Obviously, like, there’s no replacement for this guy, no? Like, this is a big hit for us, 100 percent. But again, we have to play with the hand we’re dealt right now, and this is it. Going forward, maybe not, maybe not. Who knows? I don’t know. But we’re gonna play with what we have.”
The Celtics, in fact, do have a talented roster.
They roster nearly touches $200 million in total cap allocations, features four players (aside from Tatum) that have made an appearance in an All-Star Game, has a Sixth Man of the Year winner and another player with multiple All-Defensive Team selections.
But none of them are of the caliber of Tatum, who averaged 28.1 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.1 steals in eight games played in the 2025 postseason. That includes Monday’s loaded statline: 42 points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks. He shot 16-for-28, including seven makes from downtown.
Like Porzingis said, there’s no one replacement for Tatum. But he believes the team has to manage emotions if they want to come back from a 3-1 deficit without the best player on the floor.
“We’re grown men, you know? Who hasn’t had injuries? It’s a part of this sport, part of this game, and we feel for him, of course,” Porzingis said. “But we have to move forward. He doesn’t want us to be sad and not playing our best basketball. So we’re going to go out there and leave it all out there and live with the results.
“Again, these things happen. Obviously we all felt for him in that moment, but we just have to keep going, we have to keep playing. Obviously we all realized in our heads what this could mean, but again, this is part of the sport, it’s tough, and it’s hard to see and hard to accept the truth but it is what it is and we have to go forward with what we have now.”
Continue reading...
