Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who is listed as doubtful for Game 3 of their first-round series against the Orlando Magic on Friday, has a “severe” bone bruise in his wrist, according to Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla.
“He’s dealing with a severe bone bruise, and he’s day-to-day,” Mazzulla said Thursday during an interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub. “He’s progressively gotten a little bit better each day, and yesterday he went through all the protocols and did everything you can possibly do up until the last moment to try and play and just wasn’t able to do it.”
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Tatum took a hard fall on his wrist in Boston’s series-opening 103-86 win last Sunday, and as a result he missed its 109-100 win in Game 2 on Wednesday. On Friday in Orlando, the Celtics could be even more shorthanded, as guard Jrue Holiday joined Tatum on the injury report on Thursday. Holiday is listed as questionable with a strained right hamstring.
In the interview, which took place before Holiday was added to the injury report, Mazzulla said there is “a chance” that Tatum could return on Friday. Mazzulla also claimed that he doesn’t talk to team doctors — this may have been a joke, but it’s genuinely hard to tell with him — and couldn’t say whether Tatum’s injury is something that requires time off to heal.
“All I can tell you is, at the end of the day, he’s doing whatever he can, every minute of the 24 hours to put himself in position to try and be out there on the court,” Mazzulla said. “I trust his process, trust his mindset, trust the people around him that help put him in position and that’s all we can do.”
Wednesday’s win suggested that Boston can manage just fine without Tatum during this series, provided that everybody else is available. If Holiday is sidelined, though, the Celtics’ task will be tougher, and they will have less margin for error as they get deeper in the playoffs.
