Apparently, Jayson Tatum marveled through pain in the Boston Celtics’ recent postseason exploits.
The All-star forward revealed in an interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks that he played the tail end of the regular season and playoffs with a fractured wrist.
He initially suffered from the said injury in a regular season dub against the Atlanta Hawks last Feb. 14. Tatum was supposed to be examined during the 2022 All-star break, but didn’t proceed in fear of missing plenty of games.
Few days left before the playoffs, Tatum proceeded to the imaging, and the results showed a non-displaced fracture.
“Come to find out, this was eight weeks later, it showed that I had a non-displaced fracture in my wrist,” Tatum said. “It was small but a non-displaced chip. So I chipped a bone but it didn’t leave the surface. It showed that the bone had grown over it, so it healed, but I was still in pain because I kept getting hit or falling on it. So I guess I played with somewhat of a fracture for two months.
“Then in the playoffs, there was a play against Milwaukee in Game 3. I dunked it, Giannis (Antetokounmpo) chased me down and fouled me and I fell into the crowd. That was the most painful it’s been since that day that I hurt it. I ended up getting a cortisone shot in my wrist that night and you could see it. I’ve lost color in my hand because it kills the fat cells and there’s not a lot of fat in my hand, so I’ve lost color right there. After each game I would have to wear a brace to shoot around and I would take it off before the cameras saw me.”
Besides that wrist injury, Tatum also had shoulder complications in the middle of the Cs’ Eastern Conference encounter against the Miami Heat. As such, these woes didn’t hold him back to play when the stakes were getting higher.
Tatum led Boston’s march through the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010, while being named as the inaugural winner of the Larry Bird East Finals MVP.
Though their magical rund painly ended in the hands of the Golden State Warriors, Tatum was no doubt gallant on his performances amid soreness.
And with the 2022-23 season looming to start, he has recovered very well and ready for an unfinished business.
