NEW YORK (AP) — Jayson Tatum is set to play at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night for the first time since rupturing his Achilles tendon there in last season’s playoffs.
He’ll be without teammate Jaylen Brown, though, as the Celtics ruled him out of their showdown against the New York Knicks with left Achilles tendinitis.
The Celtics will lock up the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a victory, a position that many thought was unrealistic because they would be playing for at least most of the season without Tatum.
He was hurt last May 12 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals when he fell to the court in the fourth quarter of a Knicks victory. New York went on to win the series, ending the Celtics’ championship reign.
Tatum went through the Celtics’ morning shootaround at MSG on Thursday and told reporters afterward that he felt “nervousness, anxiousness. All the things you probably would expect.”
Asked how he would get through it, he added: “I think it’s just deciding to face the challenge head-on and put my uniform on.”
Tatum returned March 6 and has played in 15 games, averaging 21.6 points and 9.8 rebounds. He said after the Celtics’ home victory over Charlotte on Tuesday that he wasn’t “thrilled to go back and play” at Madison Square Garden.
“Last time I played there, obviously, it was a traumatic experience for me,” he added.
Brown helped carry the Celtics through Tatum’s absence with a superb season. The All-Star is averaging 28.8 points in 70 games.
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