Kevin Garnett & Paul Pierce add insult to injury for Jayson Tatum & the Celtics

Getting lost in all the pandemonium from the Boston Celtics' playoff upset at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers is the fact that Jayson Tatum's Game 7 absence should absolutely be considered among the biggest reasons why they blew it.

It's a shame things played out the way they did, but anyone who knows Tatum should know that he's a warrior. It was miraculous enough that he managed to come back from an Achilles tear, a career-altering injury. However, among those who seemed unimpressed with Tatum were Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

While not directly firing any shots, it appeared that both Garnett and Pierce disapproved of Tatum not playing in what would be their playoff finale, throwing some shade at the Celtics star for missing it at the last minute.

Something that we all have to remember is that Tatum could have (and likely did) fought tooth and nail to play, but it's a team decision at the end of the day.

Again, Tatum has fought through plenty in the last year. At the end of Game 6, it was clear something was wrong with him, and it turned out to be worse than we all thought. If Tatum, a guy who returned from an Achilles tear 10 months after it happened, couldn't play in the most important game of the season, that means whatever he was dealing with was bad.

And knowing how unpredictable Achilles tears can be in the long term, the Celtics didn't want to take any more risks with their best player.

Garnett himself should know the perils of playing through injury!

When it was announced that Tatum was coming back, the initial belief was that, at best, he would look about as much like his old self as Kevin Garnett did when he returned from his knee surgery from the season prior. Not quite himself, but still pretty good.

Since Tatum's return, it's fair to suggest that's about how he looked overall, if not better. Regardless, Garnett put himself in that situation in the first place as a direct result of his gimpy knee. Even before it finally gave out, both he and the Celtics knew there was something wrong with it.

Afterward, KG even tried to come back from it for a stretch, which turned out to be a horrible idea! It knocked him out for the season and further exacerbated the injury. There's no telling whether Boston would have won more championships had they handled the situation more carefully. Because Garnett and the Celtics pushed through an injury that they clearly shouldn't have, they never got the chance to truly defend their title.

So, if anything, someone like Garnett should be sympathetic, because even if this resulted in a playoff humiliation for Boston, it will likely be what's best for Tatum and the organization, given the disaster they avoided.

There's a time and place to put in a "Well, back in my day..." argument, but this wasn't it. In fact, this was an uncharacteristically lame take from both of them. I mean, who do these two think they are?

Kendrick Perkins?!

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow