TATUM’S DEMISE LEAVES MORE HISTORIC SADNESS IN BOSTON — AND JOY IN NEW YORK
The Celtics seemed dynastic, but his ruptured Achilles brings an abrupt halt to a team that has won 18 times and dealt with tragedies — while the Knicks might win their first NBA title in 52 years
So white, so green, the banners float us into the past. Peer down at the court to see a replica parquet, still made of oak. No American arena or stadium meshes 1957 through 2024 better than TD Garden, featuring 18 NBA title bearers won by the Boston Celtics.
The number 18 will remain the same, regretfully, for some time. We’ve seen tragedy mixed with joy, including the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis, as shown horrifically on the HBO series “Celtics City.” Thursday, the franchise lost a player who could have become an all-timer, Jayson Tatum, to a ruptured right Achilles tendon that might bring him back to the NBA but after his team is partially disassembled. In its own way, his loss returns sorrow to the land of shamrocks when the team likely to dethrone them, the New York Knicks, is cheered by a new American Pope.
Walking into the building on Legends Way tonight will require another confrontation with sorrow. Led by Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics could have pieced together a dynasty run of three straight championships. That will not happen as the Knicks, who haven’t reached the Eastern Conference finals since 1999 and haven’t won the NBA Finals in 52 years, are so forceful that Seventh Avenue might not be navigable until late next month. The biggest star is Jalen Brunson, who has scored 102 points in his first 10 playoff games this season, the most in league history. The coach is Tom Thibodeau, a man who looked fireable last month.
They are bigger than Aaron Judge and Juan Soto and the other Aaron who left town. And if they finish off the Celtics with a 3-1 series lead, they’ll become the favorites — I dare say this — to win the championship. The fans were mingling, as Timothee Chalamet danced with Kylie Jenner, to the point Brunson told all to chill.
“I was actually telling everyone to get off the court,” Brunson said. “It’s nothing to celebrate.”
Do as he says. “The King of New York,” teammate Josh Hart said.
Wait until Wednesday. Or Friday at Madison Square Garden. Every imaginable celebrity, including many you don’t want to see, will be on TV screens until the Knicks win or lose. “When you have a city that’s supporting you the way our city does,” Karl-Anthony Towns said, “you know anything is possible.”
Jim Dolan, a crank, owns the Knicks and might find a way off the gossip pages. The prospective owner of the Celtics, Bill Chisholm, might want to turn around and sell after agreeing to spend more than $6 billion. After securing Tatum with a $315 million deal and Brown with a $304 million deal, management is looking at a payroll beyond $500 million next season. Kristaps Porzingis is gone. Jrue Holiday might be gone. The hope is Tatum misses next season and returns the following season, as Kevin Durant did after suffering a torn Achilles tendon. By then, the Knicks will take over the Eastern Conference along with Indiana, Cleveland and Detroit.
And to think coach Joel Mazzulla yelled, “Get up!” at Tatum after he was knocked to the floor in the Orlando series. He injured his wrist. In his first eight seasons, Tatum has played more postseason minutes than anyone but Larry Bird and Horace Grant. What is Mazzulla saying now, with folks wondering about his mind. “It’s tough to watch a guy like him get carried off like that,” he said.
He was locked into a wheelchair through the tunnel, in tears, not returning as Willis Reed once did. He underwent surgery Tuesday afternoon. The team left no timetable on his return.
“I’ve got no words right now,” Brown said.
“Obviously, we all realized in our heads what this could mean,” Porzingis said. “But again, this is part of the sport. It’s tough, and it’s hard to see and hard to accept the truth but it is what it is and we have to go forward with what we have now.”
The NBA is undergoing an unforeseen transition. The Celtics are done, replaced by the Knicks. Dallas benefits from a draft lottery — rigged? — and gathers Cooper Flagg after trading Luka Doncic. Anthony Edwards is about to overtake the league. LeBron James should retire. Steph Curry has been replaced in clutch time by Brunson.
But in the end, after watching Tatum score 42 points on 16-of-28 shooting and wonder if he’s the league’s next great player, we pause and think back to his words after Game 3. He played brilliantly after missing 3-pointers in Games 1 and 2.
“Comes with being That Guy. I live a great life, not gonna lie. I make a lot of money .. get a lot of accolades. But I’m not perfect. There’s times I need to play better. That’s what comes with being That Guy. Be the same person when things are going great and not … character of a good man.”
You don’t have to be a Boston fan to feel terrible. The Celtics need the No. 1 pick.
It went to Dallas, in the name of Flagg, from Maine. He grew up loving the Celtics.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.