The Boston Celtics suffered a tough loss on Monday as the young, up-and-coming Orlando Magic defeated them 108-104. The Celtics, who are arguably the deepest team in the league, were without their star player and MVP candidate Jayson Tatum.

Tatum, whose appearance was questionable due to a non-Covid illness, was ultimately ruled out for the remainder of the game as he played zero minutes. This was quite a shock as Tatum was expected to be fit to play.

Still, he was expected to leave the beach, but he didn’t try. After the game, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla gave an update on Tatum and explained what went wrong with him.

“Right before we came out to tip off,” Mazzulla said, via Brian Robb of MassLive. “He did what he tried to do to play, but he just couldn’t do it.”

Based on Mazzulla’s update, Tatum’s illness won’t affect him for too long. Considering he tried to play against Orlando, Tatum should be able to play against the Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas Day.

When asked if Tatum’s absence contributed to the Celtics’ shortcomings, Mazzulla replied, “No.”

“None,” Mazzulla said when asked about the impact of Tatum not playing.

“We have had enough. I mean, of course you want to have one of your best players. You want it, but it’s not really a challenge. We did what we had to do, we got off to a good start. We just had a difficult third quarter,” he continued.

Tatum instead sat on the bench and cheered on his teammates after being taken off the injury report.

Boston was well ahead 58-43 at halftime, but the Magic dominated the third quarter, tying the game by the end of the quarter and taking a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter. Orlando was outplayed in the first half for the second straight game while playing without Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Mo Wagner, but it still found a way to win.

As for Boston, they went cold in the second half of their final road game of 2024. The Celtics will look to have their superstar forward back on the court on Wednesday as they look for their 23rd win of the season.

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