Thoughts on Jayson Tatum's return for the Boston Celtics

Saturday 3/7/26

The big sports story in Boston yesterday was the return of Jayson Tatum to the Celtics' line-up nearly ten months after he torn his Achilles tendon. I stayed up to see how this went.

Obviously Tatum was rusty. Everything will be off. Your timing, your cardio. You could see that he wasn't fully trusting his leg, which makes sense. He'd favor the other one, try not to come down on the one he injured.

Had a nice stat line of 15 points, 12 boards, 7 assists. So not that far from a triple double. Was at 5, 5, and 5 at the half. Played over 27 minutes, which surprised me a little. I think it's a good sign that the C's were comfortable with him playing that much in his first game back, because it suggests that eventually--like in the playoffs--he could be playing Tatum-type minutes.

The thing is, though, you don't know how a player is going to be after an injury like that. Will they be themselves again? Will they be someone who lost a step for good? In the NBA, a lost step is a huge deal. Same with the NFL. Hockey to a degree, but you can make it up elsewhere in hockey by changing your game.

Of course, the value of that step depends on the player you are and the kind of player you have to be or can be. That step means more to some guys than others. Tatum isn't Jokić, who uses geometry rather than quickness. Not to the same degree, that is, though there's more of a geometric component to Tatum's game than Jaylen Brown's.

I think what's important for these Celtics is that Brown thinks of himself as the man and plays the way he's been playing, with that same mindset. He can't take a backseat. Go out and try and be that MVP-type of player. It's up to Tatum to figure out things on his end.

In a sense, Brown should pretend Tatum isn't there, or Tatum isn't Tatum. He's just another teammate. I don't mean that in a disrespectful way. Brown needs to proceed as Brown was proceeding. That's what's best for the Celtics right now. The Celtics are also a harder team to beat when they play at the pace they've been playing rather than a Tatum-dominant pace.

They can do that with Tatum. They're better when they aren't taking as many threes as well, which has been a trend this year. It's not a huge difference, but it's a noticeable one. The offense runs smoother, the ball moves better. A mid-range game can be lethal in today's NBA, even if everyone can and does shoot from distance and all the more so because of that.

Tatum has worked hard and I was happy for him. He was scoreless until the end of the first half when you had a put-back dunk (after missing a dunk earlier--again, timing) and then a corner three on back-to-back possessions. The place went nuts and I'm sure that felt great and richly earned for Tatum.

The Celtics have had a fantastic year, emphasis on that first syllable. They've given their fans a lot to cheer for in a season where that might not have been the case. So that was a nice scene at the Garden last night, and it's appealing, this idea of a boost, a good team with a chance to get stronger.

Unfortunately, almost as soon as Tatum returned, Vucevic went out with a broken finger. He's a valuable piece and the report is he'll be out a month. Queta had a nice game and has come into his own this season.