Celtics star Jayson Tatum is set to return to the court at Madison Square Garden on Friday night as Boston faces the New York Knicks in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinals matchup. Tatum, who ruptured his right Achilles tendon in a game against the Knicks last month, has been released from a New York hospital after successful surgery.
The 27-year-old All-Star is expected to miss around nine months of action due to the injury, which is similar to the one suffered by Kevin Durant in 2019. However, Tatum’s teammates are eager to get back to basketball and win games for him. Celtics guard Sam Hauser said, “We didn’t talk about basketball at all. That stuff is bigger than basketball now… It’s seeing how he is as a person, how he’s dealing with stuff.”
The Celtics’ motivation to win on Friday night is twofold – they need a win to force a deciding Game 7, and they want to give Tatum the momentum he needs for his long recovery. If Boston wins, it would be just the 14th team in NBA history to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series.
Source: https://www.nba.com/news/jayson-tatum-meets-team-before-game-6-knicks