Kevin Garnett wasn’t a fan of Jayson Tatum missing Game 7

Regardless of Jayson Tatum showing to tweak one thing in his leg in the course of the Celtics’ Sport 6 loss to the Sixers final week, each he and the group didn’t seem to sign any issues about his availability earlier than a decisive Sport 7 on Could 2.

“Y’all in all probability noticed after I went to the again,” Tatum stated after Sport 6. “So, I used to be on the bike. My leg was just a bit stiff after I got here out within the third quarter. However simply form of assessing the second, like, the sport was a little bit out of attain. We took the starters out.”

“I imply, he stated he was taking part in proper?” Joe Mazzulla stated of Tatum the next day. “He’ll play.”

However, after Boston submitted a clear harm report on Friday, Tatum was deemed “questionable” on Saturday afternoon with “left knee stiffness” — roughly six hours earlier than tip-off at TD Backyard. Forward of the sport, Tatum was dominated out, with Boston finally falling to Philly, 109-100, in a season-ending defeat.

Talking on the newest episode of the “KG Licensed” podcast with fellow Celtics nice Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett admitted that he was “shocked” to see Tatum dominated out from what turned out to be Boston’s remaining recreation of the 12 months.

“I can inform you now that if the C’s thought I used to be taking part in and I got here in half-hour earlier than and stated I didn’t play, that may [expletive] shatter the locker room,” Garnett stated. “I’m simply speaking about now as professionals, they gotta regulate, like, ‘Okay, who’s subsequent?’ You’re about to go scrap and one in all your greatest scrappers ain’t right here. That’s a blow to the morale in right here. That’s a blow to the camaraderie. I used to be shocked.”

“After I noticed that, the primary two minutes of that recreation, I watched the bench,” Garnett added. “I watched morale. I simply wished to see how they had been going to react to that emotion. Was it going to uplift them? I feel they did the very best they might with the very best they’d. They left it on the market. Philly was simply the higher group.”

Regardless of Garnett’s feedback, Tatum was truly dominated out properly forward of tip-off, with the ultimate harm report dropping two hours earlier than the beginning of the sport. Even when Tatum’s availability wasn’t precisely unsure in Boston’s locker room proper earlier than warmups, his absence was felt in opposition to the Sixers.

Regardless of the frustrations rooted in a first-round exit the place Boston initially held a 3-1 sequence lead in opposition to Philly, Pierce pushed again in opposition to a few of Garnett’s frustrations — noting that taking part in Tatum in that recreation wasn’t well worth the danger, particularly coming off a ruptured Achilles tendon final Could.

“They made a long-term determination,” Pierce stated of Boston’s determination to sit down Tatum. “We’ve seen it occur too many occasions. … We’ve seen it occur with too many guys who handled calf ache or knee [pain]. … That’s what they’re doing.”

Chatting with reporters final week, Tatum stated that the Celtics made the decision to sit down Tatum out, noting that he felt as if he might have continued to play had Boston punched its ticket to the following spherical of the playoffs.

“Skilled some tightness again there,” Tatum said of his knee. “It was simply unlucky timing but it surely was, I assume, a little bit bit to be anticipated. I used to be away for ten-and-a-half months after which I’m again and I’m taking part in each different day.”

“I’m taking part in 36-40 minutes, so it’s common that one thing would come up. It was simply form of robust as a result of rehab was going so properly the whole time. I assume it was form of inevitable that I must cope with one thing and it simply got here on the worst time.”

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author overlaying the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Purple Sox for Boston.com, a job he has held since 2023.