Jayson Tatum's wrist may be a bigger problem than we know

In the opening game of the Boston Celtics' playoff run, Jayson Tatum suffered a bone bruise to his shooting wrist. The All-NBA forward missed Game 2 against the Orlando Magic. However, upon his return, Tatum, sporting a heavily wrapped wrist, continued to impress.

In his four outings against the Magic, Tatum averaged 31.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists. He shot the rock at a 36.4 percent clip from deep and a 50 percent success rate from two-point range. As such, talk of Tatum's injury quickly faded away.

However, bone bruises aren't known to heal quickly. Tatum has likely been playing through pain and discomfort. He could be aggravating his injury little by little with postseason games coming thick and fast.

And, judging by Tatum's sudden drop-off in production over his first two games against the New York Knicks, that wrist issue is the only logical conclusion.

In his first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Tatum is averaging 18 points, 15 rebounds and 5.5 assists. However, his shooting splits are abysmal, as he knocks down just 25 percent of his three-point shots and 31.8 percent of his two-point attempts. 

There's an issue outside of a shooting slump. You don't go from 30+ points per game to 18 per night without a catalyst. 

Perhaps Tatum's injury from Game 1 is finally catching up with him? Maybe trying to play against the size and length of the Knicks roster is deterring him from finding the level of aggressiveness he needs to be successful? 

Whatever the reason, the Celtics need Tatum to tap into his superstar skill set and drag them back into the series. If he cannot play at that level, he should sit on the bench and continue to heal.

Celtics fans are currently searching for answers to what's going wrong. Unfortunately, an injury from weeks ago could be the deciding factor in how successful Boston is in the current playoff run, and that's something no one was expecting.