Painful ankle flip stops Jayson Tatum from reaching 2023 NBA Finals

The Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Finals with a 103-84 victory, earning their only remaining ticket to play in the 2023 NBA Finals. The Heat were the better performers than the Celtics, creating the furthest margin of up to 20 points in the final quarter.

However, there is one detail that cannot be ignored that is the injury of Jayson Tatum. Even worse for Boston and the 1998-born player personally, Tatum flipped his ankle on the first ball of Game 7.
Jayson Tatum clutched his ankle in pain from an injury on the first ball of Game 7
As the shot-clock drifted toward the final seconds, Jayson Tatum broke into the basket and collided with Gabe Vincent, the Miami Heat defender trying to take the offense error.

After Vincent fell onto the field, unfortunately for Tatum, he landed on his opponent’s leg and flipped his left ankle. The Boston Celtics star was in pain. He sat for about 30 seconds to regain his composure before picking himself up and playing again.

Determined not to give up, Jayson Tatum played about 7 more minutes before returning to the bench. At this point, doctors had a chance to care for Tatum’s injured ankle.

Watch now the situation that led to Jayson Tatum’s injury

For the rest of Game 7, Jayson Tatum played minutes like he never flipped his ankle. From the 2nd half to the end of the game, Tatum barely took a second off, an extremely commendable effort.

However, because his ankle was swollen, Boston’s No. 1 scorer no longer had his usual speed, resilience or explosiveness. Tatum himself was more limited than in previous games, with only 5-13 FGs and scoring 14 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists.

“After that flip, I was just a shadow of myself,” Jayson Tatum said after Game 7.At the end of the game I had a chance to watch the video, see how the ground and ankle flipped. I’m sorry it affected me so much the whole game.

It was frustrating because it made me feel like a shadow of myself, my swollen ankles made it impossible for me to move comfortably. It’s even sadder when it happened on the first ball of the game.”

Tuy cố gắng nén đau thi đấu, Jayson Tatum đã không thể giúp Boston Celtics làm nên điều thần kỳ
Jayson Tatum’s injury had a pretty big impact on the Boston Celtics’ play in Game 7. They couldn’t deploy the offense through Tatum, nor did they have a big enough contribution on defense.

The ball not in Tatum’s hands gave chances to the rest of the lineup, but only Derrick White spoke up with 18 points (5-12 FG).

Things got even worse when Jaylen Brown lost himself, scoring 19 points with just 8-23 FG (34%) and losing the ball 8 times, a career-high number.

Xem ngay highlights Game 7 – Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat

Collectively, the Boston Celtics in Game 7 had a very low 3-point shooting percentage, just 21% to 9-42 3PT. At one point they missed 12 consecutive 3-point shots.

In addition, turnovers are also a forgettable statistic for Boston with 15 TO all game, equalizing the highest number of ball losses in Game 2 and Game 3. Unfortunately, Boston couldn’t beat the Miami Heat again.