Jayson Tatum explains his illness that caused him to miss the Magic game

Celtics

“It was just a small virus, a 24-48 hour bug,”

Jayson Tatum was left out of the Celtics’ lineup minutes before Boston tipped the scales with its loss to the Magic on Monday night.

Tatum, who was ruled out for a non-COVID illness, told reporters that he tried to play through the illness but was too tired to make it.

“It was just a small virus, a 24-48 hour bug,” he said. “I felt good all day warming up and it blew me away in our meeting right before the game. Let’s just say I’ve lost a lot of fluids in the last two days.

“Maybe a little tired from being sick the last few days,” he added. “But I’m just trying to get through it and get my second wind, things like that.”

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said Tatum’s absence was no excuse for the loss to the undermanned Magic. The Celtics (22-8) are 2-1 without Tatum this year. Both wins came against Detroit while Tatum was sidelined with knee soreness.

“We had enough. “Of course you want to have one of your best players,” Mazzulla said at the time. “You want to have it, but it’s not really a challenge. We did what we had to do. We had a good start. We just had a difficult third quarter.”

Tatum returned to action on Christmas and posted a double-double with 32 points and 15 rebounds in the Celtics’ loss to the Sixers. He had an efficient shooting night, making 11 of his 20 field goals, including four of eight from 3-point range.

But a sluggish defense led the Celtics to lose back-to-back games for the first time this season.

“We have to do a better job of taking control of that side of the ball,” Tatum said. “I think we’ve neglected that a little bit in the last few games and that’s on all of us. We need to get better and that means getting better as a unit on defense. It’s just as simple, we have to get better.”

Tatum said the Celtics need to get back to playing with the same defensive pride that made them champions a year ago.

Other teams, including the surging Magic and the struggling Sixers, are hitting them with all their might. It’s up to the Celtics to rediscover the right way to respond.

“We’ve been to the conference finals three times in a row and played in the finals twice in the last three years,” Tatum said. “We’ve always had the best results over the last few years, so it shouldn’t faze us or anything like that. “It should be something that’s expected.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports reporter

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.