Painful ankle flip prevents Jayson Tatum from reaching NBA Finals 2023
The Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Finals with a 103-84 win, taking the only ticket left to play in the 2023 NBA Finals. The Heat were the better performers than the Celtics, creating The longest difference is up to 20 points in the last round.
However, there is one detail that cannot be ignored that is Jayson Tatum's injury. Even more unlucky for Boston and the individual player born in 1998, Tatum flipped his ankle on the first ball of Game 7.
As the shot-clock ticked to the last second, Jayson Tatum broke into the basket and collided with Gabe Vincent, the Miami Heat defender trying to make an attack.
After Vincent fell to the field, unlucky for Tatum he landed on his opponent's leg and flipped his left ankle. The Boston Celtics star clearly shows his pain. He sat for about 30 seconds to regain his composure before getting up and fighting again.
Determined not to give up, Jayson Tatum played for about 7 more minutes before returning to the bench. Only now did the doctors have a chance to care for Tatum's injured ankle.
For the rest of Game 7, Jayson Tatum played with the same number of minutes as he had never flipped his ankle. From the second half to the end of the match, Tatum almost did not rest for a second, an extremely commendable effort.
However, due to swollen ankles, Boston's No. 1 scorer no longer had the usual speed, bounce or explosiveness. Tatum himself also limited his shots compared to previous games, only 5-13 FG and scored 14 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists.
“After that flip, I was just a shadow of myself,” Jayson Tatum shared after Game 7. “After the game, I had a chance to watch the video, see how the landing phase and the ankle flipped. I'm sorry because it affected me a lot during the game.
Very frustrating because it makes me like a shadow of myself, my ankles swell so much that I can't move freely. Even more sad when it happened on the first ball of the game."
Jayson Tatum's injury had a big impact on the Boston Celtics' play at Game 7. They were unable to deploy attack through Tatum, nor did he have a large enough contribution in defense.
The ball not in the hands of Tatum brought opportunities to the rest of the names in the squad, but only Derrick White spoke with 18 points (5-12 FG).
To make matters worse, Jaylen Brown lost himself, scoring 19 points with only 8-23 FG (34%) and losing the ball eight times, a career high.
Collectively, the Boston Celtics at Game 7 had a very low 3-point throw rate, reaching only 21% with 9-42 3PT. Sometimes they missed 12 three-pointers in a row.
In addition, turnover is also a forgettable statistic for Boston with 15 TO all game, the highest average of lost balls in the series in Game 2 and Game 3. Both bad and unfortunate, Boston couldn't beat the Miami Heat. one more time.
