Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is doubtful to play Wednesday night due to an ankle injury when Boston visits the Phoenix Suns.
The fact Tatum wasn’t declared out — leaving open the possibility he could play — suggests the six-time All-Star dodged a serious injury.
Tatum sprained his left ankle during Monday’s 113-95 victory over the host Sacramento Kings. Tatum canned a 3-pointer with 3:35 left in the third quarter and landed on the foot of Sacramento star Domantas Sabonis.
Tatum fell to the ground and grabbed at the ankle while appearing to be in intense pain. Sabonis was hit with a flagrant-1 foul and Tatum split the two free throws before departing the game for good.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla was optimistic about Tatum following Monday’s victory.
“He seems to be doing OK,” Mazzulla told reporters. “I didn’t see the play, but they made the right call. It was a flagrant foul.”
Tatum had 25 points, eight assists and seven rebounds before exiting.
The Celtics (53-19) can afford to be cautious with Tatum with just 10 games remaining. They are in second place in the Eastern Conference, 4 1/2 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers and 7 1/2 games ahead of the third-place New York Knicks.
Boston has won six straight games — one shy of its top winning streak of the season — and 11 of its last 12. The Celtics own a league-best 29-7 road mark and are 3-0 on a six-game road trip as they prepare to battle the Suns (35-37).
Boston won the three games versus the Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers and Sacramento by an average of 17.7 points. Payton Pritchard scored 22 points off the bench in the victory over the Kings.
Pritchard has reached double digits in six straight games, including two outings of 22. Earlier this month, he established career bests of 43 points and 10 3-pointers against the Trail Blazers in Boston.
Phoenix has won four straight games entering the finale of a five-game homestand.
The Suns entered Tuesday in a virtual tie with the Dallas Mavericks for the final Western Conference play-in spot. Dallas then lost to the Knicks on Tuesday night.
Phoenix has beaten two of the better teams in the East in its last two outings, knocking off the Cleveland Cavaliers 123-112 on Friday and the Milwaukee Bucks 108-106 on Monday.
Devin Booker nailed a game-winning 20-footer with 1.7 seconds left against the Bucks.
Kevin Durant scored 38 points and tied his season high of seven 3-point baskets for Phoenix, but multiple players cited the defensive effort as the main ingredient.
“You’re always going to give yourself a chance when you’re playing how we played defensively and that’s what we got to do nightly on a consistent basis,” Suns point guard Tyus Jones said.
The success on the homestand is something Durant thought was possible all season despite Phoenix being six games below .500 as recently as March 16.
“I just like that we’re just standing on our identity of playing hard, playing for each other even more,” Durant said. “I felt like we had good intentions throughout the year trying to do things the right way, but I think we’re more decisive with what we want to do on both ends which is making us closer as a team.”
Durant is averaging 40 points over the past two games and has made 11 of 18 shots from behind the arc.
Phoenix guard Bradley Beal (strained left hamstring) will miss his fifth straight game.
This is the first of this season’s two meetings. The Suns visit Boston on April 4.
The Celtics have won four of the past five meetings.
–Field Level Media
