The Celtics, who won the championship last year against the Dallas Mavericks, lost Jayson Tatum to an Achilles tear in Game 4. He could miss the entire 2025-26 season. Jaylen Brown did all he could to keep Boston's season alive after Tatum went down. He scored 26 points in Game 5 and 20 in Game 6 before fouling out.

With Jayson Tatum out for the rest of the playoffs and the Celtics facing elimination, the attention turns to Jaylen Brown.

The Celtics star battled knee issues from the NBA All-Star break on, with Boston listing him on its injury report with a right knee posterior impingement and bone bruise. He missed eight of the final 16 regular-season games and admitted he was playing through pain when he did suit up.