It's win or go home for the Boston Celtics tonight. The Philadelphia 76ers have proven themselves worthy adversaries in the first round, leading to a Game 7 tonight. It could get even harder for Boston, as Tatum has been listed as questionable with knee soreness. That makes Game 7 even more painful (win or lose) because this situation was avoidable if the Celtics had just finished off the Sixers.
It actually was right there. Game 6 was a travesty to watch in real time, as it felt like the Sixers dictated the game from start to finish, whereas Game 5 truly felt within Boston's grasp. They were up by double digits at multiple points in that game, but just couldn't put Philadelphia away.
Times like those make it harder when the underdog comes back to win, and not just because they flipped the game around, but also because it gives them confidence. The Sixers now have plenty of confidence in themselves to go with the momentum they took back from the Celtics heading into the climactic showdown.
And now Tatum might not even play? And even if he does, he won't be 100%? Granted, it's likely Tatum won't be 100% until October, but with how impressive he's been, Boston needs the best version of their franchise cornerstone in these playoffs.
Boston's minutes distribution has done Tatum no favors
In the playoffs, it's normal for a team's best players to play more minutes. That's exactly what Boston has done with Tatum. However, they should have understood that this was a risk because of what Tatum has had to overcome in the past year.
That's why looking at his minutes distribution, it's not that surprising that it came to this.
Will never understand this. Made no sense as it was happening. pic.twitter.com/vWmlCA7U0h
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 2, 2026
Of course Boston was going to depend on him, especially because he's played so impressively that people forgot that he tore his Achilles, but for that reason, they also should have been a little cautious.
Making it even worse is that the reason why Boston managed to snag the No. 2 seed was because of how good their backups were. The same backups who beat Orlando in a game the Magic wanted to win have barely gotten any shine. As good as Tatum has been, the Celtics' wing depth has been one of their best assets and they've hardly used it.
Tatum may very well play, and the Celtics may very well win the series tonight, but it's painful to know that this will definitely be something to keep an eye on going forward while knowing that it didn't have to turn out this way.
Add us as a preferred source on Google