The Boston Celtics already entered their first-round bout against the high-powered Brooklyn Nets shorthanded, as Jaylen Brown underwent season-ending wrist surgery earlier this month. To make matters worse, the C’s suffered yet another crushing blow in Tuesday’s loss to Brooklyn, as they had to make do without the services of Brown’s fellow All-Star, Jayson Tatum, for most of the second half.
Tatum left the contest early in the third quarter after being accidentally poked in his right eye by Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant. Following the game, head coach Brad Stevens had few details to update on the extend of Tatum’s injury moving forward aside from the fact that his eye “looks pretty swollen.”
However, on Wednesday Stevens took to the airwaves, joining 98.5’s Zalak & Bertrand, where the coach shared a far more promising outlook in regards to Tatum’s availability, claiming his star wing looks “probable” for Game 3 when the Celtics welcome the Nets into TD Garden.
Brad Stevens tells us they feel “pretty good” about Jayson Tatum being able to go for Friday night in Game 3
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Celtics Look to Turn Series Around as They Return Home
After giving it a solid go for much of Game 1, the Celtics were pretty much toyed with by the Nets on Tuesday night. Brooklyn’s big three of Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden combined for 61 points, while sharpshooter Joe Harris poured in 25 points, en route to a 130-108 victory. The win pushes the Nets’ series lead to 2-0.
While some are ready to write off Boston in the series, the Cs are hopeful a change of scenery will help reenergize their play.
“We go home, get some good rest, see our families, see each other again tomorrow in the gym, look at the film, talk about what we need to change and adjust, and we’ll go from there,” veteran Marcus Smart said following the loss. “They [Nets] did their job tonight; they took care of home court. And now it’s our job. It’s over with, we’ve gotta move on to the next game.”
“They had their crowd tonight behind them, so it’s going to feel real good to have ours,” he added. “Obviously, as we all know, the crowd is different, especially around this time of the year. And it definitely helps a lot. We’ve been without (them) for a while, and it’s going to feel real good to have those guys back in there cheering for us and giving us that extra energy.”
Celtics Increase Fan Capacity
Regardless of how many games Boston is back in the series, The Garden will undoubtedly be roaring this weekend. Celtics fans will get their first taste of in-person playoff basketball in more than two years — and at near-arena capacity, at that.
When Kyrie Irving and the Nets come to Boston next weekend, there will be a lot more fans in the stands:
“We’ve been in a lot of series here over the last few years,” said coach Stevens. “We’ve been down 2-0, we’ve been up 2-0. Several times, the script has flipped. You gotta focus on what you can control, but there’s no question that we look forward to playing at TD Garden, and we’ll look forward to playing with more fans in TD Garden.”
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Celtics Update Jayson Tatum’s Game 3 Status After Injury Against Nets