Within the opening recreation of the Boston Celtics’ playoff run, Jayson Tatum suffered a bone bruise to his shooting wrist. The All-NBA ahead missed Sport 2 in opposition to the Orlando Magic. Nevertheless, upon his return, Tatum, sporting a closely wrapped wrist, continued to impress.
In his 4 outings in opposition to the Magic, Tatum averaged 31.3 factors, 11.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists. He shot the rock at a 36.4 % clip from deep and a 50 % success charge from two-point vary. As such, discuss of Tatum’s damage rapidly light away.
Nevertheless, bone bruises aren’t recognized to heal rapidly. Tatum has probably been taking part in by means of ache and discomfort. He could possibly be aggravating his damage little by little with postseason video games coming thick and quick.
And, judging by Tatum’s sudden drop-off in manufacturing over his first two video games in opposition to the New York Knicks, that wrist subject is the one logical conclusion.
In his first two video games of the Jap Convention semifinals, Tatum is averaging 18 factors, 15 rebounds and 5.5 assists. Nevertheless, his taking pictures splits are abysmal, as he knocks down simply 25 % of his three-point photographs and 31.8 % of his two-point makes an attempt.
There’s a difficulty outdoors of a taking pictures hunch. You do not go from 30+ factors per recreation to 18 per evening and not using a catalyst.
Maybe Tatum’s damage from Sport 1 is lastly catching up with him? Possibly attempting to play in opposition to the scale and size of the Knicks roster is deterring him from discovering the extent of aggressiveness he must be profitable?
Regardless of the cause, the Celtics want Tatum to faucet into his famous person talent set and drag them again into the collection. If he can’t play at that stage, he ought to sit on the bench and proceed to heal.
Celtics followers are at present looking for solutions to what is going on incorrect. Sadly, an injury from weeks ago could possibly be the deciding consider how profitable Boston is within the present playoff run, and that is one thing nobody was anticipating.