‘This could go down as one of the darker Celtic days’: Bill Simmons discusses Jayson Tatum’s injury
On his podcast, Simmons talked about Tatum’s injury and the future of the Boston Celtics.
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Bill Simmons had an expected reaction to Jayson Tatum’s Achilles injury in Game 4 of the Celtics-Knicks series.
“I really wanted to cancel this,” Simmons said on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” Monday night, referring to going live on YouTube after the game. “Tonight was not a good night for Celtics fans. Holy sh**.”
Simmons was joined by J. Kyle Mann and Joe House, where the three discussed Tatum’s injury and his performance up until leaving the game in the 4th quarter.
On Tuesday, the team confirmed that Tatum had ruptured his Achilles tendon and had surgery to repair it. There is no estimate for his return.
Simmons mentioned how Tatum was playing well before the injury.
“… that was one of the best games of his career up to that point. I mean, he singlehandedly kept the Celtics in that game for three plus quarters and was outrageously good.”
Tatum kept the team in the game with 42 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists as the rest of the bench collapsed.
“The [Kristaps] Porzingis minutes were horrible,” said Simmons. “The two older guys, [Al] Horford and Jrue Holiday, brought nothing to the table. [Payton] Pritchard didn’t really give them the boost off the bench.”
The trio discussed the difficulty getting through the NBA playoffs, and how Tatum was the only Celtic who continued to dominate.
“Tatum was playing 40, 43 minutes a night and doing everything,” said Simmons. “He was the leading rebounder on the team. He was guarding [Jalen] Brunson, you know, a few times in this series. And today he was kind of their best option to guard Brunson. He was the point forward over and over again. He’s attacking the rim … But he, you know, he was getting pounded on the whole game.”
This injury will change the trajectory of Tatum’s career and how the Celtics will play, not only in Game 5 but the majority of next season.
“But this could go down as one of the darker Celtic days,” said Simmons. “Honestly, because especially the timing of, you know, not to mention he’s at the peak of his career. He’s never had a major injury.”
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