Celtics Injury Update: Jayson Tatum Explains Recent Absence After Losing “Lot of Fluids” Due to Non-COVID Viral Illness

The Boston Celtics’ Christmas Day winning run came to a disappointing end on Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers. After winning their last two Christmas Day games and five of the last eight, the Celtics were expected to steamroll the struggling Sixers. However, even Jayson Tatum‘s return to the starting line-up couldn’t help them avoid a second-straight loss, the first time that’s happened this season. Could it be that the 26-year-old’s sudden injury concerns have hampered the team’s chemistry?

During the post-game presser, Jayson Tatum was asked about the illness that prevented him from going up against the Orlando Magic on December 23. The 5x All-Star revealed that he had contracted “a little virus”. Describing it as a 24-48-hour bug, the illness was quick to come to him. After all, as Tatum described, he was fine during Game Day and was able to participate in warm-ups too. When it hit him, however, it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

“Let’s just say I lost a lot of fluids over the last two days,” Tatum explained. The effect of the bug continued to bother him later too, as he revealed feeling “maybe a little fatigued, I guess, you know, from being sick the last few days. But, you know, I was just trying to push through it, and catch my second wind, things like that.”

It was only two weeks ago when the Celtics star missed his first game of the season after he sustained a right patella tendinopathy. Having played 3 games in a row following, it seemed that injury troubles were behind him. Then, right before the matchup against the Orlando Magic, he was declared ‘Questionable’ due to a non-Covid illness and then declared ‘OUT’ of the game completely. Fortunately, it wasn’t bad enough to make him miss the Christmas Day game.

This was not the first time that Jayson Tatum got sick in a manner that caused him to miss games. According to Fox Sports, since his entry into the NBA back in 2017, the Boston Celtics star has developed 7 different cases of illnesses. Before the most recent one, doctors diagnosed Tatum with a non-COVID illness back in February. Fortunately, the same wasn’t bad enough to cause him to miss any of the matchups during that time period.

However, Tatum’s absence may have had an effect on the final outcome during the Celtics-Magic game. After all, even though Jaylen Brown took on a heavier offensive load, the team still ended up losing to a short-handed Magic 108-104. But Joe Mazzula felt that wasn’t the case.

When asked if Tatum’s absence was a contributing factor to the cause, the Celtics head coach stated, “None. We have enough. I mean, obviously you want to have one of your best players. You want to have him, but it’s not really a challenge. We did what we had to do, we got off to a good start. We just had a tough third quarter.”

Once ESPN announced that Jayson Tatum would be mic’d up for the Christmas Day game, it was almost confirmed that he would play. Good thing too, since Joe Mazzulla relied on his star amid the injury concerns of other players.

How did Jayson Tatum perform against the Philadelphia 76ers in the Christmas Day game?

Going into the matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers, Mazzulla may have looked to make good use of Jayson Tatum. After all, Jrue Holiday was ruled out just hours before the game. To make the situation worse, Kristaps Porzingis also left the game at halftime due to an ankle injury. As a result, Jayson Tatum ended up playing a whopping 42 minutes! The last time that he played for so long was when the Celtics competed against the Brooklyn Nets a little before mid-November. Tatum was given the time, and he made the best use of it.

Tatum recorded 32 points, 15 rebounds, and four assists, while shooting 55% from the field and 50% from deep. The game marked the 15th double-double for him just this year. On top of that, it also allowed him to become the first Celtics player since Larry Bird to score 25-plus points, with 15-plus rebounds, in back-to-back games. Not bad for someone who was still dealing with some fatigue after catching an illness.

Tatum’s contribution, unfortunately, was not enough for the Boston Celtics. Fortunately, with a 22-8 record, the Celtics still sit second in the Eastern Conference. Therefore, as long as no other illnesses, or injuries sideline Jayson Tatum, the defending champions can continue building towards back-to-back championships.