“So I guess I played with somewhat of a fracture for like 2 months” Jayson Tatum reveals how he played through injuries during the playoffs
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Jayson Tatum
Boston Celtics and Jayson Tatum came close to ending title draught in 2022. They had brilliant Easter conference series, defeating strong contenders with gutsy plays, and earned a spot in the finals after 12 years of wait. But championship experienced and revitalized Golden State Warriors proved too strong for the young Celtics as they won the title in 6 games. The Celtics megastar garnered a lot of criticism for his performances in finals, but he revealed the story behind it, and now maybe critics would understand the real reason behind somewhat below-expectation performance from the 24-year-old star.
In conversation with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks, the Celtics forward explained that he was struggling with injury throughout the 2022 postseason games. Talking about a non-displaced wrist fracture injury Tatum said, “I had a non-displaced fracture in my wrist. It was small, but it was still like a – a non-displaced – chipped bone, but it didn’t leave the surface. But it had shown that the bone had grown over it. So it healed. But I was still in pain because I kept getting it to hit or falling on it. So I guess I played with somewhat of a fracture for like 2 months.”
Jayson Tatum led his team in scoring and assists in the postseason and even won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP award. But many pointed out that his “numerous” turnovers hampered the Celtics at some critical moments in the games. Tatum set an ‘unwanted record of over 100 turnovers in a single playoff season.
While talking about his injury, Tatum revealed how they managed to keep it a top secret. He said, “After each game I would have to wear a brace to shootaround and I would take it off before the cameras saw me. Pre-game taking my nap – then I had to put it back on just to make sure it was stable.”
In the Milwaukee series, JT seems to have the most issues as he informed that he had to take cortisol shots to play on. Although Tatum suffered the injury, he mentioned how it didn’t hamper his mindset as a competitor. Tatum and the whole Celtics team played their hearts out in most of the postseason games and managed to topple Eastern competitors.
After tasting success in 2022, Jayson Tatum and Boston Celtics are getting ready to better their record in 2023.
Boston Celtics drafted the Duke prodigy in 2017 as 3rd overall pick. The star already had shown his capabilities and just improved on his performances entering the League. His offensive stats saw continuous growth as he had his best career season averaging 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists per game. Every stat was better than an earlier season, and that helped the Celtics to secure a playoff spot with ease.
His form in the playoffs continued and played a vital role in winning the Conference title for the team. But his scoring had a massive 5-point drop from last season’s playoff as he scored at an average of 25 points per game. Though the Celtics lost in the Finals, Tatum emerged as their star player and donned the mantle of leader as well.
While preparing for the 2023 season, the Celtics tried to set Jayson Tatum as ‘untouchable’ while trying to make massive trade for another megastar Kevin Durant. The negotiations are stalled due to the steep asking price from the Nets, but the Celtics are determined to go one step ahead of last season’s outcome.
As of now, there is no major addition to the 2022 Finalist roster, but the Celtics are pushing hard for a proven star, and even showed interest in sending one of their own stars – not named Jayson Tatum for the same.
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