3 reasons you can’t blame the Boston Celtics’ Game 7 loss on Jayson Tatum’s ankle injury
By Eric Fritts
Game 7 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals was, by most all accounts, rough. It was a rock fight that ground on until eventually, the Miami Heat pulled away, leaving the Boston Celtics with no response. But things got cloudy quickly for the Cs.
On the game’s first possession, Celtics star Jayson Tatum badly rolled his ankle.
While it might be easier, or at least simpler, to point to this as the reason for the team’s demise, it wasn’t. It was unfortunate but, there were several greater factors that ultimately led to the Eastern Conference Finals loss.
Here are 3 reasons you can’t blame the Boston Celtics’ Game 7 loss on Jayson Tatum’s ankle injury
Boston Celtics Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Reason no. 1: The Heat were banged up too
It would be easy to say that if Tatum was 100%, then this game would have gone differently. But that rationale goes both ways, the Heat were also down a starter and proficient scorer, in Tyler Herro. Additionally, Boston’s Malcolm Brogdon was clearly not healthy either dealing with a tendon injury in his arm.
Obviously, things don’t happen in a vacuum. It wouldn’t be sufficient to say that if Tatum didn’t roll an ankle, and Herro was fully healthy, then the result would still be the same. Or if Brogdon was still able to shoot then the Boston Celtics would have won either.
Basketball doesn’t have static, player-team-opponent-cause-effect relationships. It’s a fluid game with highly interdependent pieces working with and against the other pieces. As those pieces are added or subtracted, everything shifts around it.
However, the main point is that the what-ifs don’t hold as much weight when both teams can throw them back at each other. The way Miami marched on, was the same way the Celtics needed to. They needed to find other talents to plug the holes.