It was a painful night for the Boston Celtics on Saturday. The Celtics lost Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, and they also saw both Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart leave the game with injuries. Tatum and Smart did both return to the game, though their injuries looked scary in the moment.
After the 109-103 defeat, Tatum opened up on his shoulder injury and what really happened, via Conor Roche of Boston.com:
“My neck got caught in a weird position,” Tatum said of his injury. “Obviously, I went down. I felt some pain and discomfort in my neck and down my arm. Went and got it checked on. I started to gain some feeling back, got it checked by the doctors, and decided to give it a go.”
Celtics head coach Ime Udoka called the injury a stinger and said it's not serious, so that's at least a sigh of relief. Boston would have been in real trouble if Tatum missed time after going down 2-1 in the series.
While Tatum seems to be okay, it was definitely a night to forget for the star wing. He had an awful night, scoring just 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting to go along with six turnovers in the Celtics' shocking loss. Boston's turnovers were the story of the game, with 24 turnovers leading to 33 Heat points.
The good news is Tatum shouldn't miss any time and the Celtics have been incredibly resilient. They've been absurdly dominant after losses so far in these playoffs, so expect a better effort in Game 4.
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