Jayson Tatum does not like to miss Celtics games. He has butted heads with team personnel about taking time off throughout his career but it was an ankle injury suffered Monday night in Sacramento that forced him to take a seat this week.
Tatum’s durability was on display though yet again Saturday night as he returned to the lineup and flirted with a triple-double after a four-day absence, helping lead the Celtics to a 121-111 win over the Spurs. The All-Star posted 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in his return while playing his usual level of minutes (36).
“Been bored,” Tatum told reporters in San Antonio of his time off this week. “I’m glad that it recovered and healed in a good way and I was able to come back out here and rejoin the team.”
Tatum had been playing some of the best basketball of his career before suffering the injury on Monday night amid Boston’s eight-game winning streak. The superstar forward made a candid admission about the injury itself that had him on the floor in pain for multiple minutes after he went down following landing on Domantas Sabonis’ foot.
“Just initial reaction, you heard something popped. It was painful and kind of like a shock factor,” Tatum said. “Once I got up and was able to put wait on and able to walk off the court, I didn’t feel it would be too long of an absence.”
The Celtics have just eight games remaining in the regular season before the team’s playoff run to repeat begins. While rest may be in order for some of Boston’s other regulars, don’t look for Tatum to try to take too much extra time off. Instead, he is eager for the injury to continue healing when he’s on the floor.r
“Always a mental part of coming back when you injury something,” Tatum said. ‘It felt fine for the most part but as I keep playing, I think it will feel better. That’s part of it. No one in this locker room feels 100 percent. It’s part of what we do, everyone is dealing with something so find an opportunity to fight through it.”
Tatum and the Celtics will look to close out their road trip with a perfect 6-0 record on Monday night in Memphis.
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