BOSTON – Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum said he was still facing the consequences of COVID-19 more than a month after initially testing positive for the virus.
“I think it affects your breathing a little bit,” Tatum said after training the team’s target on Tuesday afternoon before hosting the Denver Nuggets. “I lived a few games in which, I don’t mean (I) was struggling to breathe, but, you know, you get tired much faster than normal.
“Just by running up and down the field a few times, it’s easier to get out of breath or get tired much faster. I’ve noticed this since I had COVID. It’s something I’m working on.
“It has improved since the first game I played, but I still manage it from time to time.”
Tatum, who has averaged 25.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 21 games this season, missed five more games than the rest of the week – the Celtics were stopped because they didn’t have enough available players – after proving positive for COVID. -19 in early January.
And since he returned to Chicago on January 25, his numbers have been lower than before he became ill. In the 10 games that Tatum played before losing, he averaged 26.9 points out of 47.4% of the total shooting and 43.8% of the 3-point range. In the 11 games he has played since his return, he has an average of 24.5 points per game, a total of 42.7%, and 36.5% of the three-point range.
In those games since his return, Tatum’s minutes have also increased slightly, from 34.6 minutes per game before to 36 minutes later.
Tatum said he talked to Celtics coach Brad Stevens about how he feels and said it’s not a consistent thing to do. Instead, it’s something that comes and goes, and what he’s trying to cope with while playing a condensed NBA program, all while having an average of 35.3 minutes per game in his career.
“It’s something we talked about,” Tatum said. “And it doesn’t happen in every game and I don’t feel it in the whole game. There are only certain stretches where the breath is out of control and I talk to the medical staff and the coaching staff about it. Obviously, it’s been improved since the first game. to which I returned and played.
“I think it’s a long process. I’ve talked to other guys who have had it and they say they’ve experienced the same thing and it’s getting better over time. But no matter how much we play, I think it takes a little longer.”
Entering Tuesday night’s game against Denver, Boston lost four of its last five games and seven of its last 10, dropping to .500 this season. Much of this stretch came without the help of the Marcus Smart wing, which stays out with a calf stalk. This adds to star guard Kemba Walker available for only half of the games in a row due to his ongoing knee problems and the continued absence of second-year winger Romeo Langford, who has yet to play this season due to seasonal wrist surgery.
As a result, Stevens relied heavily on Tatum and Jaylen Brown, his two young stars, to take the lead. While Tatum is dealing with the persistent effects of COVID-19, Brown recently missed two games with knee tendonitis.
Stevens said it is a difficult challenge to balance the minutes when the team fights as it is and faces a lack of depth on the wing.
“Sometimes my 15-year-old son asks me when I get home, ‘Hey, can you, you know, why isn’t Tatum here? Why isn’t Brown here? “Because he has to sit down at some point,” Stevens laughed before Sunday’s loss to Washington. “You can’t play those guys 48 minutes a game every night, can you? So you balance that.
“We have to do everything we can, as you said, to manage the big picture and the game itself. And that is a challenge. This is a real challenge when you’re a team that is really a .500 team and you come and go and you don’t necessarily stay behind, you don’t really create separation, you’re just, you know, you’re one of many. It can get to the point where the balance can be a little better.
“But I’ll say this: it’s much easier to get that balance if you have 10 games over 0.500 or if you have 15 games over 0.500 or whatever. But it’s something we have to keep in mind.”