The Boston Celtics were trailing the New York Knicks 111-104 with 3:21 left in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals when head coach Joe Mazzulla subbed in Jaylen Brown for Kristaps Porzingis.
Twenty-three seconds later, the Knicks were up 113-104 and Celtics star Jayson Tatum was being helped off the court after suffering a non-contact injury to his lower body.
The 27-year-old foward went from scoring 42 points in the game and looking invincible to being unable to bear any weight on his right leg. He covered his face to hide the tears while he was pushed in a wheelchair to the Celtics locker room for evaluation.
What happened in those 23 seconds was a freak accident that left the NBA community fearing the worst for Tatum, but after a careful review of the play, some fans on social media heaped blame on Brown for creating the injury to his co-star.
“Jaylen Brown came in for 10 seconds, turned the ball over and killed Tatum in 1 possession,” wrote a user on X.
“Tatum injury doesn’t happen if Jaylen Brown catches the (expletive) ball,” said one post with over 100,000 views.
Tatum appeared to injure himself reaching for the loose ball after Brown failed to possess a pass from Tatum immediately before.
Jayson Tatum was helped off the court late in Game 4 after an apparent leg injury on this play. pic.twitter.com/UF8D4mxqlo
— ESPN (@espn) May 13, 2025
“Jaylen Brown losing the ball led to Jayson Tatum tearing his achilles…” said another, fearing the worst.
“Brown just ended the celtics playoffs hopes,” replied a fan.
“This Jaylen Brown turnover just changed the course of the future of the NBA,” said a user.
Tatum getting injured because of Jaylen Brown handles pic.twitter.com/Roc2LavEza
— 😎 (@amroensam) May 13, 2025
The 2024 NBA Finals MVP did not need any added negativity following the emotional loss. After the game, Brown expressed that it would be a huge challenge for the Celtics to pick their heads up after seeing their leader go down.
“I think everybody’s concerned with Jayson,” Brown said. “You know, I’m not sure how bad it is, didn’t look great. But I think everybody’s more concerned with that. Obviously the loss is huge. But we gotta get ready for Game 5, so we’ll take the night and pick our heads up tomorrow and put together a gameplan to come out on our home floor to keep the series alive.”
Mazzulla said Tatum will be evaluated Tuesday, but at the time of publishing, his diagnosis and injury status remain unconfirmed.
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