Jayson Tatum Getting A Night Off Against Pistons
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Celtics will visit the best team in basketball on Thursday night, but first they have to get through a home game against the lowly Detroit Pistons on Wednesday. Sounds like the ideal night to give Jayson Tatum a breather.
And that's exactly what the Celtics will do with their star forward, as Tatum has been ruled out for Wednesday night's tilt with knee tendinitis. Head coach Brad Stevens said the "injury" is nothing to worry about, and Tatum will travel with the team to Milwaukee after Wednesday's game.
"Jayson's good; he's not going to play tonight. He's got a little bit of tendinitis that we just want to be very cautious with," Stevens told reporters. "Reassess him [Thursday] but it's not a long-term thing by any means. He's probably more mad at us."
The Celtics are in one of their busiest stretches of the season, with 16 games over the next 30 nights leading up to the All-Star break. Wednesday night will be the first time that Tatum isn't in Boston's lineup this season, as he's the lone Celtics player to have played in all 38 games so far.
The 21-year-old is having quite the season too, averaging a career-high 21.3 points per game off 43 percent shooting. But the Celtics would much rather have a fresh Tatum for Thursday night's game against the 36-6 Bucks, a team that has won four straight and nine of its last 10, over a game against the 14-win Pistons.
