The playoff hopes of the defending NBA champions were already teetering when Jaylen Brown, of the Boston Celtics, lost the basketball with just over three minutes remaining in Game 4 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Semifinals at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Boston, winner of the 2024 NBA title, trailed 111-104 in a game they led by 14 at one point in the third quarter
But things were about to take an even darker turn.
Brown’s teammate Jayson Tatum, whose at-times spectacular 42 point-effort carried Boston in this game, lunged for the loose ball after Brown’s mishap. OG Anunoby of the New York Knicks beat Tatum to the ball, picked it up, and dribbled the length of the floor for an easy dunk, effectively putting the game out of reach for Boston. And to make matters that much worse, Tatum, a first-team All-NBA selection the last three seasons, was writhing around the court, holding his right leg, begging for a timeout. He held his hands over his head. Brown and Al Horford, the veteran Celtics forward, stood forlornly over Tatum, as medical staff tended to him. Tatum was carried off the court by two Celtics staffers: he couldn’t put any pressure on his injured leg. He disappeared down a hallway.
Boston’s hopes for a repeat championship might have vanished with him.
Moments later, Tatum was spotted being pushed down the hallway in a wheelchair, in tears and obvious pain. New York cruised to a 121-113 Game 4 victory.
After the game, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters he had no update, other than that doctors told him Tatum had suffered a lower leg injury, and that an MRI on Tuesday would shed more light on its severity.
