A third Eastern Conference semifinals loss to the Knicks wasn’t the most crushing blow the Celtics were dealt Monday night.
Mere minutes before Boston’s 121-113 Game 4 loss at Madison Square Garden was finalized, Jayson Tatum went down with what appeared to be a very serious lower-leg injury. The ailment almost certainly will sideline Tatum for the remainder of these NBA playoffs, and it very well could take a serious toll on the star forward’s 2025-26 season as well.
As one can imagine, the reigning NBA champions were pretty shaken by their leader going down and leaving the arena in a wheelchair.
“Our Tim Bontemps was in the Celtics locker room after the game. He said it was the quietest locker room he’d ever heard,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported after the game. “They obviously know that the rest of this series, of course, is in serious doubt.”
While Celtics players were primarily concerned about Tatum’s well-being after the game, they managed to acknowledge the task at hand. Boston still has some life in this second-round set, and with TD Garden hosting Game 5, Joe Mazzulla’s group is fully capable of extending the series to at least Friday.
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That obviously won’t be easy without Tatum. But with virtually everyone counting them out, perhaps the Celtics will find some sort of edge in the adversity.
