Celtics' Jayson Tatum Reveals Details on Mysterious Illness

Matt Levine | 16 Hours Ago

Eric Canha-Imagn Images

The Boston Celtics have played some inconsistent basketball over the past few weeks but still remain one of the better teams in the NBA. Boston dropped its second straight game as they lost to the Philadelphia 76ers at home on Christmas Day.

Before that, Boston lost to the very shorthanded Orlando Magic in a strange game. As the game started, Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum was pulled out of the starting lineup due to a mysterious illness.

Boston didn't comment too much on it and Tatum ended up not playing in the game. The star returned to the lineup for the game against the 76ers and did his best to push Boston forward.

Tatum posted 32 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one block. It wasn't enough to get the win but after the fact, Tatum addressed the weird illness that took him out against the Magic.

"Little virus, 24-hour, 48-hour bug. I felt fine the entire day, felt fine during warmups then it just hit me during out meeting right before the game. Let's just say, I lost a lot of fluids over the last two days. So maybe a little fatigue I guess from being sick the last few days but I was trying to push through it and catch my second wind."

Luckily for the Celtics, it seems that Tatum is just fine. But there was a lot of wonder around the illness since the team didn't really say much prior to the game.

Tatum's return to the lineup against the 76ers was nice to see, even in the loss. Boston has looked complacent in the past few games and will need to work on bringing the right mindset to each and every game moving forward.

After winning a title, oftentimes we see teams take a step back or take their foot off the pedal during the regular season. It seems that the Celtics are experiencing that right now but they still are one of the better teams around the league.

For Boston, they just need to get into the playoffs with as much health as possible. The team doesn't care if they have home-court advantage, even though it would be nice to hold.

This team is battle tested and there isn't too much concern going on within the building at the moment.

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