Celtics Fans Dealt Another ‘What Could Have Been’ After Jayson Tatum Injury

Here we are again, Celtics fans.

“Every Celtics title defense, it seems, comes with some calamitous injury that changes the course of history,” Celtics play-by-play radio broadcaster Sean Grande summed up perfectly as Jayson Tatum writhed in pain on the Madison Square Garden hardwood Monday night.

With three minutes left and the Green trailing by nine points in the game and one game in the series, Tatum suffered a lower-leg injury. He could not stand on his right leg and cried into his hands as he was wheeled through the halls in a wheelchair.

It was a haunting site for Green Teamers, no doubt.

To be fair, the Celtics left themselves no margin for error in the series. Boston coughed up 20-point leads in Games 1 and 2 and suffered consecutive losses in had-to-see-to-believe fashion. If the C’s ultimately are eliminated by the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, a best-of-seven series in which they trail 3-1, their collapses on Causeway will be the biggest reason why. More than the Tatum injury.

Tatum’s non-contact tweak, though, will serve as the lasting image.

“Is Jayson Tatum going to bounce back from this?” Grande questioned with 2:58 left in Game 4. “Or is this the one we’re talking about?”

The new one or next one, Grande could’ve said.

Because that’s what it will be — another ‘what could have been’ for the winningest franchise in NBA history and its fanbase.

The Celtics, especially given the way they’ve played against New York, are not winning the NBA Finals without their four-time All-NBA selection. Tatum was the only reason the C’s were in Game 4, putting together one of his best playoff performances through 45 minutes. And Boston, which raised its 18th banner last summer, shows off success in the form of championship banners.

Much like past examples, this ‘what if’ is going to hurt.

“This could go down as one of the darker Celtic days,” superfan Bill Simmons said on his “Bill Simmons Podcast.”

Kevin Garnett’s knee injury in 2009 is the first to come to mind. The Celtics were poised to repeat before Garnett suffered the injury in mid-February and later needed surgery. The knee injury to Kendrick Perkins during the 2010 NBA Finals is another example. The Lakers won the final two games of the series after Perkins exited in the first quarter of Game 6. Perhaps Gordon Hayward’s gruesome ankle fracture in the 2017-18 season opener is in the same bucket, too. Boston had the third-best betting odds to win a championship that season after it signed Hayward and traded for Kyrie Irving following a run to the Eastern Conference Finals the year prior.

The fact the Celtics will look different next year makes it’s more difficult this time around. Boston, under new ownership entering the 2025-26 campaign, needs to shed finances after it paid for the present. There’s a very real chance some combination of Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis and/or Jrue Holiday won’t return. Maybe it’s even Jaylen Brown? Tatum, meanwhile, given the expected injury timeline, might not wear his own green uniform.

And who knows how the 27-year-old will recover? A torn Achilles, which is what it’s expected to be, is a brutal one to recover from. History paints that picture.

That, unfortunately, would become the biggest ‘what could have been’ of all.