Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard were both listed as questionable for the Celtics’ game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night, a late injury report that put two regulars in doubt for a home meeting at TD Garden. The matchup was set to tip at 7:30pm ET.
For readers following Bucks Vs Celtics, the reason for the attention was simple: both players had been available every night so far this season. Tatum was listed with rest, while Pritchard was listed with a right shoulder contusion, and each had already played on both nights of the Celtics’ Sunday-Monday back-to-back against the Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets.
Tatum’s status carried extra weight because he had opened the season averaging 27 points, 7.9 assists and 6 rebounds while shooting 41.8% from the field and 22.9% from three. Pritchard, meanwhile, had averaged 13.4 points and 3.4 assists and was shooting 40.3% from the field and 31% from three. If both were held out, Boston would have gone into a game against a Milwaukee team that was 1-6 to start its first post-Giannis Antetokounmpo season without two players who had helped keep the Celtics steady through the first week.
That uncertainty sat against a mixed start for Boston, which was 5-2 after wins over the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls twice and Brooklyn Nets, but had also dropped games to the Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets. The Bucks’ record added another layer to the night, even before the opening tip, because Boston had to weigh short-term rest and injury management against the value of keeping two players on the floor in a game it still wanted to control at home.
What remained unresolved was whether Tatum and Pritchard would actually suit up. The report only put them in doubt, and the final answer mattered because neither had missed a game before Wednesday night.
