BOSTON — Ever since he went down late in the fourth quarter of Game 4, Jayson Tatum has been the center of attention. But with a season-deciding Game 5 ahead of them, the Boston Celtics know they need to put their priorities in the right place. “It's tough to see him go down, but we got to find a way to win Game 5,” Derrick White said after the game on Monday night. “That's where we're at right now. Just got to find a way to win.”
The morning after the silence-ridden night that followed Tatum’s injury, the Celtics superstar underwent successful surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles—as positive an outcome as was possible following the official diagnosis. Yet the sting in the heat of the moment still resonated.
“You take the night and get back up tomorrow,” Jaylen Brown said after Game 4 when asked how the Celtics will be able to focus on Game 5. “Tomorrow's a new day. And we go from there.”
Now, the tomorrow he spoke of has come and gone. Game 5 is directly in their sights. And a win-or-go-home contest rests in the palms of everyone not named Jayson Tatum.
The soon-to-be four-time All-NBA First-Teamer won’t be there. There will be no roar of applause when he walks out of the tunnel. The 42 points he contributed in Boston’s failed Game 4 effort are gone.
But the Celtics still have to play a basketball game.
“We step into the area tonight knowing it's a must-win situation,” Joe Mazzulla said pre-game on Wednesday night. “So, you have to find that balance of understanding the importance of him and how that hurt, [and] at the same time, use some of that towards kind of the situation that we're in and focus on the things that impact [winning].”
Celtics need to remember and forget Jayson Tatum all at once
The Celtics have to remember.
Remember Tatum, the person. Remember what he means to the franchise. Remember to play for the human being they’ve loved for the as long as they’ve been a part of the organization.
“The balance of focusing on Jayson, as a person, which [we] should do whether he's hurt or not,” Joe Mazzulla said before Game 5.
Those priorities matter.
“It's living in both of those players and knowing that the person is most important, and the player comes second."
But they also need to forget.
Forget about leaning on one of the best players in the NBA. Forget, if only for 48 minutes, what transpired less than 48 hours prior. Forget everything but the game unfolding in front of them.
That’s the only way Game 5 will turn into Game 6.