The time has finally come to see who has what it takes to win the NBA Cup. All 30 teams will be competing for a trip to Las Vegas with the NBA Cup on the line, and the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics will begin their journey to potentially capturing this trophy on Tuesday night when they take on the Atlanta Hawks. However, concern has surrounded star forward Jayson Tatum, who appeared on the injury report with an ankle injury. Tatum has been the driving force of Boston's offense and defense this season, which is why he is so vital to the team's overall success.
Currently sitting at the top of ClutchPoints' MVP rankings, Tatum has had a tremendous start to the season. If the Celtics are going to have any chance of winning the NBA Cup, Tatum will need to be available and healthy. This injury concern has sparked the question: Is Jayson Tatum playing against the Hawks?
Jayson Tatum cleared to play vs. Hawks
Initially, Tatum found himself on the Celtics' injury report and listed as questionable for Tuesday night's game with a left ankle sprain, an injury that occurred in the team's previous game against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Celtics have since confirmed that Tatum has been cleared and is available to play against the Hawks for the team's first NBA Cup game.
In the third quarter of what was a tight game against the Bucks, Tatum received the ball in the corner and attempted a three-pointer over Antetokounmpo. As the Bucks star looked to close out and contest Tatum's shot, Antetokounmpo's foot ended up getting in the landing zone. As a result, Tatum came down and twisted his ankle on Giannis' foot, resulting in the Celtics star immediately clenching his ankle in pain.
Ultimately, Tatum stayed in the game after being evaluated by the Celtics medical staff. He played a total of 40 minutes, scoring a team-high 31 points on 7-of-21 shooting, as well as grabbing 12 rebounds and dishing out six assists. Boston went on to win 113-107 and improve to 9-2 overall heading into the start of the NBA Cup group stage games.
After the game, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla made it clear that he wasn't pleased with the officials not making any sort of call on Antetokounmpo for the closeout that ultimately resulted in Tatum's ankle injury.
“That's ridiculous,” Mazzulla said of the no-call. “Can't miss that. Can't miss that … And [Tatum] didn't let it impact the rest of the game on either end of the floor. But the refs did a great job, they knew that they missed it … That's something that's gotta be [called] because it could have hurt. He's hurt an ankle before. But credit to him for handling it the right way.”
Tatum himself commented on a social media post suggesting that the referees never make the right calls for the Celtics star, as he stated, “Smfh [emoji] some calls you just not supposed to miss.”
The good news is that Tatum was able to finish this game against the Bucks, and it doesn't appear as if this ankle sprain is serious. It is possible that his ankle flared up later on and Boston added him to the injury report as more of a precaution than anything else.
So, when it comes to the question of if Tatum is going to be playing in Tuesday night's game, the Celtics' star will suit up and look to kick off Boston's journey to winning the NBA Cup with a victory against the Hawks.
Follow Us
Subscribe
