Jayson Tatum sat out the final 16 minutes of Game 6. He will miss Game 7. Bill Streicher / Imagn Images
May 2, 2026Updated 5:49 pm EDT
The Athletic has live coverage of 76ers vs. Celtics Game 7.
Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum will miss Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers with left knee stiffness, the team announced Saturday.
Tatum downplayed the issue after experiencing left leg soreness during Game 6. He initially expected to play in Game 7 but was a late addition to the injury report Saturday afternoon. Hours later, the Celtics ruled him out of the deciding game. Tatum tore his right Achilles tendon last May.
Though Tatum could be seen in discomfort during parts of Game 6, he downplayed the issue after the game, saying he expected to play in Game 7. Coach Joe Mazzulla echoed those comments during a conference call on Friday.
Tatum sat out the final 16 minutes of Game 6. Normally, after resting for the final four minutes of the third quarter, he would have returned to the court to begin the fourth quarter. Instead, he remained on the bench with the Celtics trailing by 19 points. The other starters were pulled not long afterward.
“It was my other leg,” Tatum said. “So not the one I injured last year. I wasn’t like overly concerned. S—, I came out at four minutes like I was supposed to and just kind of assessed the game. And they took the starters out fairly early in the fourth quarter. So yeah, it was not like that big of a deal.”
May 2, 2026
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