Jayson Tatum explains why Celtics ruled him out for Game 7

BOSTON — In the first 15 minutes of Jayson Tatum's exit interview on Sunday afternoon, the Boston Celtics star said the word "unfortunate" three times. It was his only way of describing the circumstances that led to him sitting on Saturday night for a do-or-die Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden. Just hours before tipoff, Tatum was listed as out due to "left knee stiffness.

" The six-time All-Star obviously wasn't fully healthy, as he's still less than a year removed from rupturing his right Achilles, yet his performance in the first round made many forget that he wasn't 100 percent. Jayson Tatum explained why he couldn’t in Game 7: “The staff, the medical team, they just kind of assessed everything that was going on. And I was in the window of return-to-play protocol, and there were just certain rules and a plan that, ultimately, that we had to stick by.

” pic. twitter. com/8IHiAApdwY — Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) May 3, 2026 "One of my legs is still smaller than the other one," Tatum pointed out to reporters at the Auerbach Center.

Without Tatum active, the Celtics ended up falling 109-100 to the Sixers and squandered their first 3-1 series lead in franchise history. All the organizational cornerstone could do was watch from the bench as his teammates came up short, because the C's refused to risk him suffering another career-altering injury. "The staff, the medical team, and (trainer) Nick (Sang) — they just kind of assessed everything that was going on," Tatum said of what went into him being ruled out for Game 7.