Jayson Tatum injured his wrist in the fourth quarter of the Boston Celtics‘ 103-86 win over the Orlando Magic at TD Garden on Sunday. Tatum stayed down on the floor for a while after a hard foul by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but his head coach, Joe Mazzulla, didn’t have much sympathy for him. Mazzulla didn’t allow the Celtics’ trainer to check on his star and even angrily yelled at him to get up.
Jayson Tatum was down hurt and Joe Mazzulla told the trainer to not go out there and then yelled “get up” 💀
(h/t @StoolGreenie) pic.twitter.com/6xJNgtB5tg
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) April 21, 2025
Mazzulla is pretty much the only head coach in the NBA who would react in that manner in that situation. You often see head coaches coddle their stars even when they shouldn’t, but he doesn’t fall into that category.
As for why Mazzulla might have been annoyed there, it was just a wrist injury for Tatum. In his mind, there would have been no reason why the six-time All-Star couldn’t just get up and head to the bench or keep playing. He was showing no signs of a lower-body injury there that would have forced him to stay on the ground.
Tatum eventually did get up, and he was able to carry on. Caldwell-Pope, meanwhile, was assessed a flagrant one for the hit.
Tatum would miss both the free throws he had earned there, and it seemed like the wrist was bothering him. He did make a couple of shots later in the game, but there was still some concern about the injury.
Mazzulla allayed those fears postgame by revealing that Tatum was fine. The Celtics star later revealed in his press conference that the X-ray came back clean and that his wrist was alright.
Tatum finished Game 1 with 17 points (8-22 FG), 14 rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one block. He was struggling with his shot even before he suffered that wrist injury, but the Celtics still managed to come away with an easy win. While Tatum was inefficient, Mazzulla praised him postgame for impacting the game in other ways.
“Probably didn’t play the efficient offensive game that he liked,” Mazzulla said. “… That never got in the way of his defense and his physicality, and his rebounding. That’s the most important thing. I mean he’s going to score, he’s going to put us in a position to be successful, but you got to answer the call defensively, physicality wise. I thought he did that, especially rebounding in the second half.”
Tatum struggled with his shot in the latter rounds of the playoffs last year as well. He made up for that with his defense and rebounding, and that was the case here against the Magic, too.
The Celtics will eventually need Tatum to be at his best as a scorer in this postseason, though, as Jaylen Brown is dealing with a knee injury. Brown may not be able to step up the way he did during that title run, and he had a quiet game against the Magic with just 16 points.
It will be very interesting to see how Brown and Tatum fare as this series progresses. Game 2 will be held at TD Garden on Wednesday at 7 PM ET.
