Can things get any worse for the Boston Celtics? Of course, they can.
It’s been the ongoing pattern for these Celtics and that’s precisely what happened, Sunday night. Just when it was starting to feel like the regular season can’t get any bleaker in Boston, Celtics fans watched its All-Star duo in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown limping off the floor after colliding with one another towards the end of the final frame.
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Celtics’ All-Stars Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown Suffer Night-Ending Injuries
Meanwhile, All-Star Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers were adding the finishing touches to a 129-119 win at TD Garden.
Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum tied a game-high 33 points to go with his five rebounds, and five assists and Lillard added 26 points, 11 assists. Norman Powell (23) also finished with 20+ points for Portland.
Tatum, coming off of his 60-point career-high performance against the San Antonio Spurs, Friday, followed it up with 33 points, including 4-of-5 from deep against Portland. Brown, on the other hand, couldn’t find his shooting touch; he scored 16 points on 6-of-22 attempts, while Evan Fournier added 21 points, including 5-of-7 from behind the arc.
Brad Stevens Addresses Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown Injury Status: ‘I Don’t Have Any Update On Them’
However, the first question directed to Celtics head coach Brad Stevens had little to do with the outcome of Sunday’s game.
“I don’t have any update on them,” Stevens said when he was asked about Tatum and Brown’s status after Sunday’s loss. “Other than they were both in different rooms being looked at.”
Jayson Tatum On His Foot Injury: ‘I Should Be All Right’
According to Stevens, rest and relaxation are the next steps for the All-Star duo, who will be re-evaluated ahead of practice Tuesday before the Celtics’ matchup against the Orlando Magic, Wednesday night.
“We just collided and I guess he stepped on my foot and he fell on my leg,” Tatum said after the game, Sunday. “But, I should be all right. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow. I should be OK.”
When asked about his All-Star counterpart in Brown, Tatum didn’t have much information on how Jaylen was feeling.
“I hope he’s all right,” Tatum said about Jaylen before getting into what went wrong against the Trail Blazers, Sunday. “Today, I think we had some costly turnovers. Missed opportunities. Late possessions in the game that we wish we could have back.”
Fortunately for Tatum and Brown, the Celtics were planning on taking Monday off, anyways. However, Stevens is hoping he’ll be able to provide a better update on Tuesday.
Brad Stevens: ‘I’ll Have More Information For You On Tuesday’
“We’ll take tomorrow off and then we’ll practice Tuesday and go from there,” Stevens said. “We’ll probably, obviously, have more of an update on how everybody’s feeling then. The initial look, you know, just when I looked at it with my uneducated eye, would say that hopefully there wasn’t any swelling there, yet, but that can happen overnight and we’ll see how that plays out over the next couple of days, here.
“I’ll have more information for you on Tuesday.”
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Brad Stevens, Jayson Tatum React to Celtics Star’s Alarming Injury