There was a sense of gloom contained in the guests locker room in Madison Sq. Backyard after Monday night time’s Recreation 4.
The Celtics didn’t say a lot to one another. Everybody had their minds on one participant, greater than the pivotal loss that might erase any hopes of defending their NBA championship.
That’s as a result of Boston’s All-Star chief who at all times will get again up couldn’t get off the hardwood within the last minutes of a late Recreation 4 comeback try.
All Jayson Tatum may do was lie on the ground in ache whereas holding an injured proper leg that seemingly gave out with out contact.
The identical Tatum that repeatedly acquired off the bottom by means of his first eight NBA seasons now wanted to be carried off on the shoulders of his coaching employees. Identical to that, he was gone. Gone for Recreation 5 and probably for much longer.
“It’s very concerning. The care that I have for him. What he means to us. What he means to Boston. Just very tough for us,” stated Al Horford, who has been alongside Tatum in Boston for the reason that franchise drafted the previous Duke star third total in 2017. “More important, it’s just really tough for him right now. Let’s see what happens. Just very tough for our group altogether.”
Tatum’s leg gave out on the 3:07 mark of the fourth quarter along with his workforce down 111-104. The harm appeared to happen when Tatum planted his proper leg trying to retrieve a 50-50 ball close to the three-point arc.
The following moments had been brutal to look at.
Tatum dropped to the ground, slapped the hardwood and pleaded for his workforce to name a timeout after Knicks ahead OG Anunoby transformed a fastbreak dunk. Tatum grimaced in ache for a couple of extra seconds earlier than trainers attended to him on the ground.
The Anunoby dunk, which made it a nine-point sport with below three minutes to play, was an afterthought.
Neglect in regards to the sudden 3-1 sequence deficit in opposition to the Knicks.
The wellbeing of Boston’s chief had been compromised.
“The loss is the loss. More importantly, it’s just Jayson that I’m worried about,” Horford stated. “Just making sure that I’m there for him. That’s my priority.”
The sight of Tatum being unable to stroll off on his personal energy is unfamiliar to the Celtics franchise. The 27-year-old has stayed comparatively wholesome since getting drafted to the league.
He’s appeared in not less than 72 video games in six of eight NBA seasons. A mixture of non-serious upper- and lower-body accidents precipitated the star to overlook 16 video games in the course of the 2019-20 season. And through the next marketing campaign, Tatum missed 14 video games coping with ankle accidents, sickness and being in COVID-19 protocols.
He not too long ago missed his first postseason look in Recreation 2 of the first-round sequence in opposition to the Orlando Magic as a result of a bone bruise in his proper wrist. It was his lone postseason DNP however definitely not his final after Monday night time’s tragic scare.
The query now’s for a way lengthy will the Celtics be with out their No. 1 man. The scenes exterior the locker weren’t encouraging both as movies circulated of Tatum being transported in a wheelchair after leaving the sport.
“Yeah, obviously, you’re always worried about someone’s health, so the fact that he had to be carried off, like you said, he’s the type of guy that he gets right up,” stated Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla on the postgame podium on Monday. “So he didn’t, and we’ll know tomorrow exactly what it is, but yeah. I mean, it’s tough to watch a guy like him get carried off like that.”
All Celtics gamers made out there to the media hadn’t seen or spoken to Tatum instantly after Recreation 4. Mazzulla didn’t have a dialog both and was not sure if the celebrity suffered an Achilles or ankle harm after talking with medical employees.
Jaylen Brown, Tatum’s star operating mate for the previous seven seasons, stated “I’m not sure” when requested how he may digest what the harm may imply for Tatum and the franchise.
“I have no words right now,” Brown added on the podium.
Brown then summed up how the workforce felt after falling right into a 3-1 deficit whereas not understanding the severity of Tatum’s harm.
“I think everybody’s concerned with Jayson,” Brown stated. “I’m not sure how bad it is. Didn’t look great. But I think everybody is kind of more concerned with that. Obviously the loss is huge. But we’ve got to get ready for Game 5, so we’ll take the night and pick our heads up tomorrow and put together a game plan to come out on our own floor to keep this series alive.”
How does Brown course of this?
“I guess you just take it as it comes. You get whatever information is needed. Tomorrow we’ll know more or find out more. And then we’ve still got basketball to play on our own floor, so we come out and we play Celtic basketball.”
Since his arrival to the league, Tatum has been synonymous with Celtic basketball. He’s ingrained into the inexperienced and white cloth of Celtics basketball. That’s what makes the sensation of this harm extra gut-wrenching for his teammates.
“I mean, obviously that’s our brother, and you hate to see him go down,” stated Derrick White. “We just know the type of guy he is, and it’s just tough to see him go down.”
White — just like the others — didn’t get an opportunity to talk with Tatum following Recreation 4. However he made it recognized that the star has the assist wanted from the fellows within the locker room.
“No I didn’t see him, but he knows that we love him and I’ll see him soon,” White stated.
