You can’t have Superman without Kryptonite.
Jayson Tatum found his Kryptonite Monday night at Madison Square Garden – deep in the heart of sinister Gotham.
Tatum has been featured as Superman in a TV spot airing during NBA playoffs. It’s plugging the latest cinematic incarnation of “Superman” set to hit theaters this summer. In the spot, Superman is taking a day off to watch the NBA playoffs, so Tatum fills in, saving humanity and a few cats.
Superman can leap over tall buildings in a single bound. He’s more powerful than a locomotive. He’s faster than a speeding bullet. But he cannot beat the Knicks
Tatum has been Boston’s “Man of Steel” since 2017. He’s started 585 regular season games and 121 playoff games, averaging 34.5 minutes per game in the regular season and a taxing 39 in the postseason.
He’s the anti-Kyrie.
Tatum carries himself like Clark Kent – quiet and composed. Leading with a smile. That is, until he’s complaining about a call or demolishing someone in a must-win game.
He was superb Monday in Boston’s gut-punch 121-113 Game 4 loss, dropping 42 before his great fall. The loss left Boston down 3-1 in the series. Tatum tore his right Achilles heel Monday and underwent surgery on Tuesday, the team said.
Tatum’s season is over. The future of the Celtics – beyond this series – suddenly appears to be floating in a Magic Eight Ball.
“Outlook not so good.”
Or: “Better Not Tell You Now.”
We’ll never again see the starting five from Monday night together in a Celtics uniform: Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford. That lineup brought home Banner 18 – laughably diminished by critics because the fully health Celtics rolled through a banged-up field.
All markets revert to the mean. This time, the Celtics are the team hampered by injury in the postseason. Or devastated by it.
Adam Silver loves to tout the league’s parity – six different champions in six years. He’s said as much. This spring could make it 7-for-7. Knicks vs. Pacers in the East finals? The NBA is back on NBC. Welcome to 1994.
Respect to “Celtics City” – but that, too, is a digital relic of better times.
In the near- and medium-term, it’s going to get dark at Auerbach Place. Joe Mazzulla spoke of darkness on Saturday. It now looms like the Polar Winter in Utqiagvik. The sun may not rise again for months – or years.
Wyc Grousbeck proved his genius by selling the Celtics for $6.1 billion. He bought low, sold astronomically high. And Bill Chisholm? As we noted previously, he just bought into the NBA’s version of the 2008 housing market.
The Celtics’ bubble burst – along with Tatum’s Achilles – on Monday night.
As much as Billy Bucks loves this team, he and his investors can’t stomach nine-figure losses for a lineup that clearly peaked last year.
But Tatum’s Kryptonite wasn’t just a freak injury. It was woven into the green-lettered jerseys of Brown, Porzingis, Holiday – and the aged, average Horford.
Tatum’s injury came as the result of Brown not being able to handle the ball off a pass from White. We’re still counting all Brown’s turnovers from the 2022 Finals.
He’s been a no-show against the Knicks.
At least Tatum gave you his patented “Marquee Game.”
Now, if he’s Superman, Brown must become Batman. Not “Bateman.” And certainly not George Clooney. We’re talking Christian Bale. Crawling out of Bane’s pit to save the season.
Porzingis? He’s rekindled the era of Great White Stiffs in Boston. Hank Finkel and Joe Kleine would be proud. Apparently, you can’t spell “Kryptonite” without “Kristaps.”
This series has been an embarrassment from the jump.
Boston blew a pair of 20-point leads at home in Games 1 and 2. They’ve been Dairy Queen soft on the boards and on defense – especially in crunch time.
Yes, the Celtics have been dogged by injuries. But they’ve also rolled over and played dead in this series. Against the freaking Knicks.
No one wants to see the Celtics euthanized Wednesday at TD Garden. But that might be more humane than watching them buried alive at MSG in Game 6.
Porzingis is battling some medieval-sounding mystery virus. Brown’s knee is shaky. Father Time finally caught up to Horford.
Give the Knicks credit. They gutted the roster, rebuilt, and designed this team specifically to beat the Celtics – with an unstoppable Jalen Brunson and a stable of relentless bigs.
Gotham celebrates. Metropolis stares into its sporting abyss. Boston teeters on the brink of becoming “Loserville” again.
Does Drake Maye own a cape?
_Bill Speros (@RealOBF and @BillSperos on X) can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com._