Boston Celtics: Jayson Tatum’s status likely to have little impact on Game 3

The Boston Celtics find themselves down 0-2 in this best-of-seven first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets and, though it’s upsetting to see, this was somewhat expected coming into the matchup.

Throughout 2020-21, the shamrocks proved to be perhaps the most disappointing team in the entire association, as they came into the campaign boasting the fourth-best odds of hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy come year’s end but, instead, finished the regular season off with a mere .500 record of 36-36, entered the playoffs as the seventh seed and, now, look to be heading towards an early-round exit.

Coming into the playoffs, the Cs found out that they’d be without one of their All-Star wings in Jaylen Brown, as he underwent wrist surgery that will have him sidelined for about three to six months, thus continuing the lacking health trend that they endured seemingly all season long.

On top of this, things became a bit scarier for Boston during Tuesday’s Game 2, and fellow All-Star wing, Jayson Tatum exited the game during the second half after being poked in the eye by Nets star, Kevin Durant, and wound up never making it back.

While his fate for Game 3 was up in the air for the following day and a half, Thursday General Manager, Danny Ainge, gave a positive update on the franchise star’s health status:

With this, many are viewing Tatum as “probable” to suit up for the Boston Celtics in Friday’s bout which, obviously, is always a good sign to see.

That said, with the wing in tow or not, pulling out a ‘W’ against this fully intact Big-3 Brooklyn squad has proven to be an impossible feat for virtually every opponent they’ve faced throughout the season, which means his status will, unfortunately, have little impact on the outcome of Game 3.

Now, this is certainly not meant to be disrespectful to the talent that Jayson Tatum is — after all, the man is a budding superstar who is likely heading to his second-straight All-NBA selection.

What this is, however, is simply a testimony to how great this Nets team is with Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving all healthy and on the court.

Against Brooklyn as a whole this past regular season, the Boston Celtics dropped all three outings and were outscored 353-308 despite the fact that Tatum logged unbelievable averages of 29.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and three assists on 51 percent shooting from the floor and 44 percent shooting from deep.

Even with the star for the full duration of Game 1, the Cs still went on to lose by double-digits.

Though it’s certainly upsetting to say, with or without Jayson Tatum in the lineup, this series was over before it even began.