Celtics’ Jayson Tatum breaks silence on missing Game 7 loss to 76ers due to injury

As the Boston Celtics are dealing with a blown series loss to the Philadelphia 76ers after the Game 7 loss on Saturday, 109-100, the game was played without star Jayson Tatum. After the Celtics’ Game 7 loss to the 76ers, Tatum would speak after the game about his absence and injury.

While Boston has played without Tatum for a good portion of the season, and played well for that matter, the team had many chances late to win, but it was Joel Embiid and Philadelphia that pulled through in coming back down from a 3-1 deficit. Tatum would miss the integral contest with “left knee stiffness,” which Tatum called “unfortunate timing,” but also one that was not too surprising.

“It was just unfortunate timing, but just, I guess, a little bit to be expected, right? I was away for 10 and a half months, and then I came back, and I’m playing every other day, and I was playing 36 to 40 minutes. So, it’s not unusual that something would come up,” Tatum said, according to ClutchPoints’ Celtics beat reporter Daniel Donabedian.

“It’s not unusual that something would come up… it just came at the worst possible time.”

Jayson Tatum on injury setback after his return

(via @danield1214) pic.twitter.com/Wgx1VhPYcQ

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 3, 2026

Celtics’ Jayson Tatum on missing time being “inevitable”

After Tatum suffered an Achilles injury in May of 2025 during that year’s playoffs, the Celtics star had been in active recovery until making his return in March of 2026. However, the workload would increase for Tatum, averaging around 36 minutes per game in April and in the playoff series against the 76ers.

While Tatum’s return ahead of schedule was a great development, there was apparently bound to be a time when the effects would set back the star for a game, as he even called it “inevitable,” though still coming “at the worst possible time.”

“It was just kind of tough because, you know, rehab was just going so well the entire time, and I guess it was inevitable at some point that I was gonna have to deal with something, and it just kind of came at the worst possible time,” Tatum continued.

At any rate, the Celtics’ season ended in major disappointment, blowing a 3-1 series and losing to Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs.

The post Celtics’ Jayson Tatum breaks silence on missing Game 7 loss to 76ers due to injury appeared first on ClutchPoints.