The Boston Celtics are navigating their longest stretch away from TD Garden this season. They're three games into a five-game road trip. They're 1-1 to start their travels, which are now on the West Coast.
Boston beat the Indiana Pacers, 140-122, before falling to the Portland Trail Blazers, 114-108, Sunday night in the Pacific Northwest. Fresh off Payton Pritchard's homecoming and Anfernee Simon's first game against the franchise he spent the first seven years of his career with, the Celtics are in Salt Lake City.
There, they'll face the Utah Jazz. According to their latest injury report, Chris Boucher will remain out of the lineup. The ninth-year veteran has not played during this five-game road trip. He is out due to personal reasons.
Before Sunday's game vs. the Trail Blazers, Joe Mazzulla said he was pretty sure Boucher would join the team in Utah, per Jay King of The Athletic. It's possible he still does, even though he is already declared inactive for Tuesday's tilt.
Boucher has only received playing time in eight games with Boston this year. He is averaging 2.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and nearly 1.0 blocks while logging 11.4 minutes.
The two-time NBA champion signed with the Celtics this summer after spending the last seven seasons with the Toronto Raptors.
Jayson Tatum's journey back
Boston is defying expectations this season. Despite Tatum's absence and a dramatic summer makeover to their roster, the Celtics are third in the Eastern Conference standings. They are 7-3 in their last 10 contests and 19-12 overall.
Their place in the East also reflects that the conference is wide open this season. Seeing Boston's success and the encouraging updates on Tatum's recovery, one can't help but wonder how far the 18-time NBA champions can go if he returns during the current campaign.
As he works his way back, James Wiseman and Dru Smith, who also dealt with a torn Achilles tendon, shed light on their road to recovery.
"It's all like a mental game," said Wiseman before the Celtics' 103-95 win over the Pacers. "I feel like the rehab process is more mental than physical. So, just being able to keep my mental up. And just being able to find different hobbies, as you're doing it, and try not to be an idle mind. I feel like that kind of helped me out a lot in my recovery."
While Tatum's eager to get back in the lineup, Smith preached patience.
"Just putting in the time every day with the rehab, and then also not taking it too fast," said the Miami Heat guard before a 129-116 loss at TD Garden. "I was able to get back fast, but it was really, probably because of the patience on the front end. Like, we took everything really slowly. We walked slowly, ran slowly. We were probably behind on a lot of those early milestones just to make sure that everything was safe, and then we can kind of ramp it up from there."
That Smith returned from his Achilles tear in nine months and has remained healthy since then adds to the value of his advice as Tatum continues with his rehab.