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Jayson Tatum (left knee stiffness) will miss Game 7 against Philadelphia
"He came in today with knee discomfort we decided - the medical team and myself decided for him not to play," Mazzulla said.
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum will miss Saturday night’s Game 7 against Philadelphia, coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters.
Tatum came in with stiffness in his left knee and the Celtics ruled him out shortly before Mazzulla’s pre-game press conference. He had been downgraded to questionable earlier in the afternoon, but the news that he was out broke a few hours before tip-off.
“He came in today with knee discomfort we decided – the medical team and myself decided for him not to play,” Mazzulla said.
Mazzulla said the stiffness was in the back of Tatum’s knee and that Tatum’s status would be day-to-day moving forward.
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A Celtics win would put them in the second round against the Knicks for the second year in a row. A Celtics loss would end their season. Boston has lost a pair of games since jumping out to a 3-1 lead in this series against Philadelphia.
The Celtics played the first three-quarters of the season without Tatum as he recovered from offseason surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles’ tendon. They finished with the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, outpacing preseason projections for their success.
“I think a season is about creating different identities regardless of who is in or who is out,” Mazzulla said. “That’s something that we’ve done throughout the year even when Jayson was out, so I think that’s what the season is for, to create different identities and in the playoffs throughout a series you try to lean on a few of those. A couple of the identities we’ve had throughout the season, we’ll lean on tonight.”
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Mazzulla said he wasn’t quite sure when the injury occurred. Tatum missed a significant chunk of time in the second half, but Mazzulla had pulled all the starters early.
“At the end of the third, he was in the back getting treatment,” Mazzulla said. “And then I talked to him today and he came in and he had stiffness in it and we kind of made a decision for him.”
Mazzulla said the decision was made about 20 minutes before his 5:45 p.m. press conference at TD Garden.
The last time the Celtics played a Game 7, Tatum injured his ankle in the opening minutes and the Celtics were eliminated by the Heat in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals.
The last time the Celtics played Philadelphia in a Game 7, Tatum scored 51 points and closed out the 76ers in the 2023 conference semifinals.
On Saturday night, the Celtics will attempt to extend their season without Tatum.
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