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Jayson Tatum set to play through hip injury vs. Blazers originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
A sore hip won’t keep one of the NBA’s ironmen off the court Friday night in Portland.
Jayson Tatum told reporters he plans to play in the Boston Celtics’ game against the Trail Blazers at the Moda Center despite being listed as questionable with a left hip contusion. per The Athletic’s Jay King.
Tatum fell hard on his left hip while dunking on Rudy Gobert in Boston’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. He stayed in the game but noted that his hip was feeling “pretty sore” afterwards and would require icing.
Tatum admitted Friday that his hip is still sore, but he went through his usual shootaround routine and appeared no worse for wear.
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Celtics fans probably wouldn’t mind if Tatum sat out a game or two, especially against a 31-38 Blazers team that Boston beat by double digits last week. Tatum ranks second in the NBA in minutes per game (37.4) and fourth in total minutes (2,433), so he’s taking on a heavy workload for the C’s.
NBA playoff picture: Why upcoming week is crucial for Celtics
That said, every game is important for the Celtics with 12 games remaining in the regular season. The C’s trail the no. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks by two games and only lead the No. 3 seed Philadelphia 76ers by one game, so they could use a win Friday to keep pace with the East elites.
NBC Sports Boston’s coverage of Celtics-Blazers begins at 9 pm ET, with tip-off set for 10 pm ET.