The Boston Celtics have a bit of room at the top of the standings, and as such, Jayson Tatum will be sitting out Sunday’s game against the Washington Wizards with an ankle injury, the team announced.
#NEBHInjuryReport for tomorrow vs. Washington:
Danilo Gallinari (left knee ACL repair) – OUT
Jayson Tatum (left ankle sprain) – OUT
Robert Williams (left knee surgery) – OUT— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 26, 2022
Tatum joins Danilo Gallinari and Robert Williams on the injury report. While Gallinari is out for the year, Williams continues to inch closer and closer to a return before Christmas, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Tatum recently said that he wants to play in every game and that team management is always fighting with him to sit. After injuring his ankle on Monday evening against the Chicago Bulls, Tatum continued on to a head-to-head matchup with fellow MVP candidate Luka Doncic with a dominant performance. He followed that up with another 30-point performance against what was previously the league’s best offense in last night’s game against the Sacramento Kings. Now as the Celtics face a home game against the Wizards, it’s finally time for Tatum to miss some time to get some rest.
Tatum is near the top of the league in minutes played, and he’s in the top 10 in scoring. An extra game of rest to get the ankle right won’t kill the team’s momentum, especially with other players stepping up as they have recently. Boston is 11-1 in its last 12 games, and it owns the best offense in the league (and in NBA history in terms of points per possession) as the defense is slowly catching up.
This is all before Robert Williams has played a single minute this year.
The Celtics may go with a familiar face in Grant Williams to start tomorrow’s game, or maybe Joe Mazzulla will go with an off-the-wall choice like Sam Hauser. We’ll have to wait and see.
The 15-4 Celtics will take on the Wizards tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. ET.
