One of the big stories coming out of this evening’s Knicks vs. Celtics playoff series is the unfortunate injury to Jayson Tatum. The 27-year-old superstar lunged for the ball after a Boston turnover late in the 4th quarter and immediately went down to the floor, writhing in pain. Now, former Knicks star turned analyst Jalen Rose is weighing in on what he thinks happened to Tatum.
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Tatum was not able to put any weight on his ankle and had to be taken off in a wheelchair. The 2024 champion was seen in tears afterward, an indication that he knows that whatever happened may leave him on the sidelines for a while. What’s worse is that the injury was non-contact, which is usually a warning sign for something much more severe.
The Celtics’ superstar was having a fantastic night, too. He dropped 42 points and was deadly from behind the arc. The Knicks would go on to win Game 4 121-113. This puts the defending champions down 3-1 against a surprisingly feisty New York squad. And now it looks like they’ll be without Tatum for the rest of the year, possibly longer, according to Rose.
“Seems like it’s gonna be an Achilles,” claimed Rose, now 52, on NBA TV. “Those things take a season or so to recover from in most cases. It puts a question mark already on the next season on a team that is the defending world champions.” Rose’s co-host, fellow NBA alumnus Quentin Richardson, remained a little more optimistic.
“I mean you hope for the best. We not doctors. We don’t know what it is but as players we’ve seen this before. It looks like that’s what it is (Achilles),” said Q-ball.
One person who we’ve already heard from is Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla. When asked by the press what he thinks of the injury, he did not sugarcoat his answer. “I have no idea, I got back there talked to the medical staff and they told me it’s a lower body injury and we’ll get an MRI tomorrow,” Mazulla stated somberly.
It’s always sad to see when one of the league’s best players goes down in such dramatic fashion. The Celtics were finding their groove, and despite being down in the game were only a few shots from tying it up.
Boston certainly has the talent to still be competitive against the Knicks without Tatum, but emotionally, it’s going to be a lot harder for them to win back-to-back years. More importantly, we are hoping that whatever did happen to Jayson Tatum, it doesn’t derail the fantastic career he’s had thus far.
