Jayson Tatum has shared a picture from his hospital bed as he begins the long road to recovery from his sickening Achilles tear.
Tatum tore his right Achilles tendon on Monday night against the New York Knicks when he lunged toward a loose ball late in the fourth quarter and his leg gave out.
After writing on the floor in agony, he buried his face in a towel before needing a wheelchair to make it back to the locker room.
He underwent surgery, the Celtics announced on Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoon the 27-year-old himself spoke out.
He captioned a thumbs-up picture from his hospital bed by saying: ‘Thankful for all the love and support.’
No timeline has been given for Tatum’s return by the Celtics but ruptures can, in the very worst case, take up to 12 months to fully heal.
Jayson Tatum gives the thumbs up from hospital after surgery on his torn Achilles
Tatum sustained the injury in the fourth quarter of his team’s loss to the New York Knicks
The Celtics are now 3-1 down to the Knicks in the series and face New York in Game 5 at TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday night, bidding to pull off a comeback without their star man.
But teammate Jaylen Brown was defiant in the absence of Tatum and insisted his team can still pull off an upset from the brink of defeat.
Get ready for the next one. Get ready to fight,’ Brown said. ‘Get ready to come out on our home floor and do what we need to do.
‘That’s the goal. Still the goal. We’ve got enough in the locker room, so I believe in my guys.’
The Knicks can end Boston’s season with a win Wednesday.
The victory also would put New York in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years.
The Celtics had a 9-2 record this season in games they played without Tatum.
That includes a 109-100 victory over Orlando in the first round. Tatum sat out that game with a wrist injury.
Tatum had to be helped off the court after getting hurt late in the game for Boston Celtics
‘It’s a part of this sport, part of this game, and we feel for him, of course,’ Boston’s Kristaps Porzingis said. ‘But we have to move forward.
‘He doesn’t want us to be sad and not playing our best basketball. So we’re going to go out there and leave it all out there and live with the results.’
And while the Knicks are on the brink of an historic win, the team aren’t expecting things to be any easier with Tatum down.
‘That team is special,’ Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said, per the New York Daily News. ‘They’re defending champions. It takes a whole team to beat them.’
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