Mazzulla explains in one word why he told Tatum to get up

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla. Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

Joe Mazzulla explains in one word why he shouted at Jayson Tatum to get up

By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated Apr 22, 2025 6:58 PM ET

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum is in danger of missing time with an injury that Joe Mazzulla clearly did not think was that serious, but the coach has a very simple explanation for the way he acted after Tatum went down.

Tatum suffered a wrist injury during Boston's win over the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of the opening-round playoff series between the two teams on Sunday. The six-time All-Star was fouled hard by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on a drive to the basket and appeared to be in significant pain afterward.

As Tatum was writhing in pain, Mazzulla was seen telling a member of the Celtics' training staff to not go onto the floor. The coach then appeared to shout "get up!" at Tatum.

Joe telling the trainer not to go out to Tatum and then immediately screaming "GET UP" is why he's the perfect man for this job pic.twitter.com/GKi9hALfV4
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) April 21, 2025

While Tatum wound up going back into the game and even hit a three-pointer, he is now dealing with a bone bruise. The Celtics have listed him as doubtful for Game 2 against the Magic on Wednesday night.

On Tuesday, a reporter asked Mazzulla about the message he was trying to convey to Tatum when he shouted at his star player to get up. Mazzulla characterized it simply as "love."

Joe Mazzulla on what was going on when he was screaming at Jayson to “Get up” after he took a hard fall.

“Love.”

⚡️ by Gametime pic.twitter.com/XiMmvlmfzf
— Celtics on CLNS (@CelticsCLNS) April 22, 2025

For whatever reason, Mazzulla was confident that Tatum had not suffered a significant injury. That turned out to be true, otherwise Tatum would not have been able to return.

Bone bruises are typically an issue of pain management. The Celtics have a much better overall team than the Magic, so they may feel that they can get away with resting Tatum for a game or two and still win the series. Time will tell.

Steve DelVecchio

Steve is a veteran writer who has covered a variety of sports and pop culture topics for more than 15 years. In addition to Yardbarker, his work has been featured on prominent digital publications including Larry Brown Sports, MSN and FOX Sports. The UConn graduate has published more than 40,000 stories and is one of the most experienced trending news writers in the country

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