Jayson Tatum leaves Celtics’ win against Kings with painful ankle injury, says he’s ‘OK’

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Jayson Tatum left the Boston Celtics’ Monday night victory over the Sacramento Kings early after suffering a left ankle sprain in the third quarter, but the four-time All-NBA forward expressed optimism after the win that the injury wouldn’t prove to be as bad as it first looked.

Tatum, who sits sixth in the NBA in scoring, had already racked up 21 points to pace the Celtics as he received a pass from Derrick White with just under four minutes to go in the third quarter at Golden 1 Center. A ball screen from Kristaps Porziņġis prompted Kings center Domantas Sabonis to switch onto Tatum above the 3-point arc — a tasty mismatch for Tatum to attack. After a rhythm dribble, Tatum side-stepped to his left and launched a 3-pointer; Sabonis, eager to contest the shot but a bit late in doing so, wound up too close for comfort.

As the shot splashed through the net, Tatum’s left foot landed on top of Sabonis’, leading to a nasty roll that left the Celtics star on the sideline in a heap, grasping for his left foot in clear and obvious pain:

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Trainers and teammates surrounded Tatum on the sideline as the officials went to the monitors to review the play, eventually elevating the penalty against Sabonis from a common defensive foul to a flagrant foul-1 for stepping under an airborne shooter. Tatum would eventually be helped to the Boston bench, taking a couple of minutes to gather himself before returning to shoot two free throws for the flagrant; he split the pair and immediately checked out, ending his night with 25 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in 27 minutes.

The Celtics led by 11 when Tatum checked out, and would push the advantage as high as 22 in what settled as a 113-95 road victory. Sixth Man of the Year candidate Payton Pritchard scored 22 points and made five 3-pointers off the bench, while White chipped in 12 points, eight assists, five rebounds and a pair of steals for the defending NBA champions, who have now won six straight, 11 of their last…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/jayson-tatum-leaves-celtics-win-against-kings-with-painful-ankle-injury-says-hes-ok-165638009.html

Author : Dan Devine

Publish date : 2025-03-25 16:56:00

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