What Joe Mazzulla Said About Major Injury To Jayson Tatum

The worst is feared for Celtics star Jayson Tatum after he went down with a serious-looking injury late in Boston’s Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Tatum suffered a non-contact injury lunging for a loose ball and writhed in pain on the floor while clutching the area of his right ankle. He couldn’t put any weight on his leg and had to be helped off the court.

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t provide much of an update on Tatum’s health following the loss that sticks the Celtics with a 3-1 series deficit.

“I know it’s a lower-body injury,” Mazzulla told reporters, per CLNS Media. “He’ll get an MRI tomorrow. He’s with doctors now.”

The MRI likely will confirm the worst-case scenario for Tatum and the Celtics. It was a startling scene to see Tatum, who has been a poster boy for durability over the course of his NBA career, sustain a potential major injury.

And the Celtics seemed shell-shocked to not see their best player get up off the court under his own power, like he had done countless times before.

“Obviously, you’re always worried about someone’s health, so the fact that he had to be carried off — like you said, he’s the type of guy that gets right up. He didn’t,” Mazzulla said. “We’ll know tomorrow exactly what it is. It’s tough to watch a guy like him get carried off like that.”

Boston’s backs are really against the wall now. The Celtics will enter Game 5 facing elimination and will need to bounce back from Tatum, who was sensational Monday night by scoring 42 points with eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and two steals, unexpectedly going down.

“You’re obviously always concerned about someone’s health,” Mazzulla said. “It’s two-fold. We’re concerned about his health, where he’s at. And we’re concerned about what we have to do better for Game 5 when we get back to Boston.”