Tatum Lifts Celtics Teammates With Hotel Meetup Ahead Of Game 6

Tatum lifts Celtics teammates with hotel meetup ahead of Game 6 originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jayson Tatum won’t play another game for the Boston Celtics for a long time. But that doesn’t mean he’s going anywhere.

The Celtics star, who suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in Boston’s Game 4 loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, had surgery in New York on Tuesday and has remained in the city throughout the week.

So, when his team returned to the city Thursday ahead of Friday’s Game 6, Tatum jumped at the opportunity to see them for the first time since they left New York late Monday night.

“He seemed to be in good spirits,” Hauser said of Tatum, adding that the All-Star forward “wouldn’t want anything more than for us to just keep winning.”

Tatum was on the Celtics’ minds in Game 5 when they delivered an inspired performance in a 127-102 rout without their star player to stave off elimination and bring the series to 3-2.

“Knowing what he’s put on the line and knowing what he’s done for this city, for this team, bringing them a championship — we do it for him,” Celtics guard Jrue Holiday said of Tatum after the victory.

That win also gave Celtics players a chance to reunite with their star teammate by shifting the series to New York for Game 6. Tatum shared a post-surgery photo from a New York hospital on Wednesday, so it’s a great sign that he was able to leave the hospital and meet with his teammates Thursday at the team’s hotel.

“It was really good seeing him,” C’s guard Payton Pritchard told reporters Friday. ” … Obviously he’s going to be stir crazy for a little now, but it’s just good — when you see one of your brothers and teammates go through a situation like that, you just want to be there to (provide) comfort and anything he needs.”

The Celtics have a tall task ahead of them, as the Knicks will be eager to eliminate Boston on their own floor and reach their first Eastern Conference Finals since 2000. But Pritchard noted that task was far from the players’ minds when they met with Tatum on Thursday.

“We didn’t talk about basketball at all,” Pritchard said. “It’s bigger than basketball now — it’s just seeing how he is in person, how he’s feeling and stuff. The basketball side, we’ll handle that. But just wanted to check in as a friend.”

Make no mistake, however: That mindset will shift when the Celtics enter Madison Square Garden on Friday night.

“We’re ready to go to war tonight,” Pritchard added.

If the C’s can channel the same energy they brought Wednesday night in Boston, they can make Tatum proud in New York by forcing a Game 7. Game 6 tips off at 8 p.m. ET, with NBC Sports Boston’s coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET with Celtics Pregame Live.