{"id":1895929,"date":"2026-04-22T11:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1895929"},"modified":"2026-04-22T11:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:00:30","slug":"celtics-loss-to-76ers-will-mean-more-work-for-still-rehabbing-jayson-tatum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1895929","title":{"rendered":"Celtics\u2019 loss to 76ers will mean more work for \u2018still-rehabbing\u2019 Jayson Tatum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BOSTON \u2014 This \u201cgentleman\u2019s sweep\u201d business is a nice piece of 21st-century NBA jargon that gets put to service whenever a very good team allows a winnable playoff game to slip away. But for Jayson Tatum and the 2025-26 Boston Celtics, the term is inappropriate language.<\/p>\n

That we\u2019re even having this discussion is because the Philadelphia 76ers emerged with a 111-97 victory<\/a> over the Celtics on Tuesday night at TD Garden in Game 2 of this opening-round playoff series. The Celtics had positioned themselves for a sweep after rolling to a 123-91 victory in Game 1, but it was something Tatum said after<\/em> that laugher that wasn\u2019t all that funny at the time and is even less so now.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m still rehabbing,\u201d Tatum said. He was speaking, of course, of his long, lonely road to recovery after suffering that devastating right Achilles tear last spring at Madison Square Garden. That he would put it out there after Game 1 that he\u2019s still rehabbing \u2014 this after scoring 26 points in 30 minutes \u2014 means he\u2019s either being humble or candid. Either way, it illustrates why getting a sweep in this series was especially important for the Celtics.<\/p>\n

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This isn\u2019t exactly a news bulletin, but it bears repeating in light of what happened Tuesday night: The fewer games Tatum needs to play in the early rounds, the stronger he\u2019ll be in potential later rounds. One could argue the other way, pointing out that the extra minutes will sharpen his shooting. But \u2026 nah. Even taking into account that Tatum was a little off in Game 2 \u2014 he netted a 3-pointer just 23 seconds into the game but was 2-for-8 overall on deep shots \u2014 it\u2019s not to his benefit, or Boston\u2019s, for his series to turn into a slog.<\/p>\n

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Give credit to the Sixers: They showed up, played tough and took home-court advantage. Rookie VJ Edgecombe (30 points) and two-time All-Star Tyrese Maxey (29 points) carried their offense, especially in the second quarter when Philly outpointed the Celtics 37-26. As Jaylen Brown (36 points) put it so well, \u201c(Edgecombe) is a capable shooter, so we just have to be able to adjust and be ready to guard him. Because he\u2019s a ballplayer. He\u2019s a rookie, but he can play.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the good stuff. But Brown also directed some criticism at his own team, saying, \u201cI thought Edgecombe was just too comfortable.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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There were sobering words from Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Joe on the second quarter: \u201cYou lose a quarter by 11, that\u2019s tough to come back from in a playoff game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Joe on the Celtics\u2019 spotty shooting, including just 13 3-pointers on 50 attempts: \u201cI thought we got great looks, but we missed them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And here\u2019s Joe on the Celtics coming to within two points of the 76ers in the fourth quarter and then going bye-bye: \u201cYou look at it, 91-89, and then they go on a run \u2026 you have to be able to score in close games against a team like that, and they made more shots than us down the stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n

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So, yes, absolutely, the Celtics wasted an opportunity to go up 2-0. If the Celtics go on to win this series in, OK, five games \u2014 you know, the nice- and tidy-sounding but, where the Celtics are concerned, stupid gentleman\u2019s sweep \u2014 it\u2019ll mean Tatum will have played one more game than he had to. That\u2019s something to think about, especially if the Celtics play the New York Knicks in the second round. That would be a grueling series. For Tatum in particular, it would be grueling and emotional.<\/p>\n

To his credit, Tatum is presenting himself as a big-picture kind of guy. During his postgame session with the media, he was reminded of his comment after Game 1 (\u201cI\u2019m still rehabbing\u201d) and then was asked, simply, \u201cHow you feeling?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling good,\u201d he said. \u201cIt sounds cliche, but I\u2019m back in the playoffs, and for me, it\u2019s a win every day that I get to, you know \u2026 I\u2019ve come back from what happened last May, and I\u2019ve been able to play at this level for the month.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I\u2019m going to continue to get better,\u201d Tatum added. \u201cBut I get to walk off the court on my own two feet. As long as I can do that, every game I win a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that Tatum didn\u2019t deliver highlights in Game 2. Did you have a favorite? Maybe it was that play in the second quarter when he intercepted a pass and went all the way the other way for a dunk that rocked the building. Perhaps it was the 3-pointer from the corner midway through the fourth quarter to cut Philly\u2019s lead to three.<\/p>\n

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Jayson Tatum gets the steal and gets to the rim! pic.twitter.com\/U9xtC4DqsG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 22, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But it wasn\u2019t enough. Not from these Celtics. And not on a night when Edgecombe was way too comfortable and getting away with it.<\/p>\n

And so this series will go at least five games. If Boston wins and you want to sound cool, call it a gentleman\u2019s sweep. But if you want to sound realistic, call it an extra game that a still-rehabbing Jayson Tatum needed to play.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 This \u201cgentleman\u2019s sweep\u201d business is a nice piece of 21st-century NBA jargon that gets put to service whenever a very good team allows a winnable playoff game to slip away. But for Jayson Tatum and the 2025-26 Boston Celtics, the term is inappropriate language. That we\u2019re even having this discussion is because the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1895929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1895929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1895929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1895929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1895929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}