The Celtics got a bit of a late surprise entering Monday’s game against the Magic when All-Star Jayson Tatum did not appear after warmups. The team added him to the injury report just minutes before the opening tip due to a non-COVID illness, originally listing him as questionable.
However, Tatum did not appear on the bench at all in the first half and was ruled out officially by the team during halftime of Boston’s 108-104 chippy loss to the Magic.
Joe Mazzulla spoke about what led to Tatum’s absence after the defeat and when the team was aware his absence would be a possibility.
“Right before we came out for the tip off,” Mazzulla said. “He did what he tried to do to do to try to play, just wasn’t able to.”
The Celtics coach did not try to use Tatum’s absence as an excuse in Boston’s defeat.
“None,” Mazzulla said of the impact of the timing. “We have enough. I mean, obviously you want to have one of your best players. You want to have him, but it’s not really a challenge. We did what we had to do, we got off to a good start. We just had a tough third quarter.”
Jaylen Brown tried to take on a heavier offensive load in Tatum’s absence, scoring a game-high 35 points. However, he thought he fell short in one key area without his All-Star teammate.
“It just allowed me to be more aggressive and comfortable,” Brown said of playing without Tatum. “I would’ve liked to get to the foul line a lot more, using my physicality and aggression, but tonight, on the road, it just wasn’t the case. I’m adjusting to that. Being more physical.
But obviously, JT is a big part of our offense, but I thought we got off to a great start in the first half; the ball was moving, we played well.”
“In the second half, we just didn’t meet the level of physicality that we need to in certain spots. So, we gotta be better in that regard.”
Boston fell to 2-1 on the year without Tatum available. The dynamic forward will get a day to recover from his illness before the Celtics return to action on Christmas day in a nationally televised showdown against the 76ers at TD Garden.
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