The Boston Celtics are still trying to figure out exactly what went wrong in their 3-1 collapse in the first round against the Philadelphia 76ers. Superstar Jayson Tatum unfortunately missed Game 7 of that series due to a knee issue, but he looked very impressive down the stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs after returning in quick fashion from a torn Achilles injury.
Tatum suffered that injury last year in the second round of the playoffs against the New York Knicks, and on Tuesday, the star took to social media to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the incident.
365 days 🙏🏽
— Jayson Tatum (@jaytatum0) May 12, 2026
Tatum was expected by many to be out for the entire 2025-26 season after suffering the injury, but he steadily worked his way back throughout the year, and ended up shocking the basketball world by making it back into the Celtics' lineup by early March.
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Over the next month or so, Tatum would slowly work his way back into form, starting to look more and more like the prime version of himself, and ended up hitting a huge shot in Game 4 of the series against the 76ers to put Boston up 3-1 and have them looking like the clear favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference.
However, things all went downhill from there, as the Celtics blew a sizable lead in Game 5 of that series, were blown out in Game 6, and lost Game 7 in front of their home fans, with the team understandably being cautious with Tatum's injury situation and keeping him out of the lineup despite the high stakes.
Tatum will hope to fully recapture his MVP candidate form heading into next season for a Boston team that could look quite different by the time the 2026-27 campaign rolls around.
The Boston Celtics are still trying to figure out exactly what went wrong in their 3-1 collapse in the first round against the Philadelphia 76ers. Superstar Jayson Tatum unfortunately missed Game 7 of that series due to a knee issue, but he looked very impressive down the stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs after returning in quick fashion from a torn Achilles injury.