Celtics rule Jayson Tatum out for Game 7 with knee stiffness
BOSTON — In a seismic growth, Boston Celtics celebrity Jayson Tatum was dominated out of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals towards the (*7*) with left knee stiffness.
The designation comes just below two hours earlier than typoff of the conclusion of the newest installment of one of many league’s oldest rivalries.
“He just came in today with knee discomfort,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned throughout his pregame media availability a couple of minutes after Tatum was dominated out. “And we decided, the medical staff and myself, that he would not play.”
Mazzulla, who added Tatum had discomfort behind his knee and that he was day-to-day, declined to say who can be beginning in Tatum’s place.
Tatum had initially been listed as questionable with left knee stiffness six hours earlier than typoff, and after the Celtics had mentioned for two days he did not have any points coming out of a loss in Game 6.
It was Tatum’s proper leg that he suffered the torn Achilles in final May — with the one-year anniversary arising on Wednesday of this week — and that he returned from again in March, solely to shortly start to resemble the participant that has persistently been among the many league’s finest for the previous a number of seasons.
But it was his left that gave the impression to be a problem when he left Boston’s 106-93 loss to Philadelphia in Game 6 Thursday evening with 4:03 to go within the third quarter and by no means returned to the sport. He went again to the locker room for some time, earlier than coming again to the bench early within the fourth quarter. With Boston trailing by greater than 20 factors within the fourth quarter, Mazzulla determined to not put Tatum again within the sport.
Both Mazzulla and Tatum downplayed that there was any problem with the knee after the sport.
Saturday’s Game 7 could have loads of historical past on the road for either side. This is the twenty third time the 2 groups have squared off in a playoff sequence – essentially the most occasions any two groups have performed one another within the postseason in NBA historical past. Boston, in the meantime, has received six consecutive conferences between the 2 groups within the playoffs, going all the best way again to 1982 – the final time Philadelphia received an NBA title.
The Celtics have additionally been Joel Embiid ‘s largest nemesis within the playoffs over the course of his profession. Tatum and the Celtics have knocked Embiid out of the playoffs thrice already: a five-game loss within the 2018 convention semifinals, in a 2020 first-round sweep and in 2023 in a second-round sequence that went the space after the Celtics got here from behind to win Game 6 in Philadelphia.
Boston, which led this sequence 3-1 earlier than Philadelphia received Game 5 right here Tuesday and Game 6 again in Philly Thursday, has gone 32-0 in its historical past when main 3-1 in a best-of-7 sequence. The 76ers, alternatively, are 0-18 when going through that state of affairs – the worst mark in NBA historical past.
