Boston Celtics coach explains viral reaction to Jayson Tatum’s hard fall

BOSTON — There were nervous murmurs amongst the TD Garden crowd as Jayson Tatum writhed in pain on the ground, holding his right wrist. Tatum was fouled hard on his way up for a dunk by the Magic’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and after landing, Tatum stayed on the court for a lengthy period.

With a trainer about to go check on Tatum, the cameras caught C’s coach Joe Mazzulla yelling “get up” from the sideline in what ended up being a viral moment. Eventually, Tatum got his right wrist looked at as the Garden crowd roared their approval once he was back on his feet. Mazzulla described the interaction as “love” when asked about it Tuesday before expanding on his answer.

“At the end of the day, I’m grateful for the relationship that I have with the guys,” Mazzulla said. “I’m grateful for the relationship that I have with him, and you love guys in different ways. But everything is built on love. Everything is built on the relationship that we have, their self-expression.

“They allow me to be who I am. And they trust — we have a trust for each other, but it all starts with love. And so in that moment, it looks different in different moments. But I appreciate who he is as a competitor and our team in that moment, but it all starts with that.”

Mazzulla has long coached his players tough, so the reaction wasn’t necessarily surprising. Tatum finished out the Game 1 victory over the Magic as the Celtics took a 1-0 series lead. While he got an X-ray on his wrist that came back clean, Mazzulla said Tuesday that Tatum is day-to-day. Mazzulla added Tatum was sore and gotten better, though it remains to be seen what his status for Game 2 will be, set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Garden.

Al Horford called out Caldwell-Pope for the play, saying he believed there was something extra after going at Tatum a few times already in Game 1. Caldwell-Pope was called for a flagrant-1 foul on the play after review, so that’s an area the Celtics will keep an eye on going forward in the first-round series.

“It just reminds you of what the playoffs are and the intensity that you play with,” Horford said. “We’re all competing. We’re playing hard. There’s a level to it. In the regular season, you probably don’t see it as consistent. In the playoffs, there’s a lot of it. That’s just a reminder.”