Jayson Tatum is back, and so is his signature stepback 3-pointer.
For the first time this season, the Celtics star went through pregame warmups on the TD Garden floor as he prepared for his regular-season debut against the Mavericks. The road to get here, with 19 games left in the regular season, was long, but Tatum is ready to go.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla expressed his gratitude for Tatum’s work ethic, which put him in this position. “At the end of the day, you saw a guy in his most vulnerable state and you’re seeing that journey back,” Mazzulla said. “That journey may start today, but there’s no endgame to that, it may be a long time. I think along the way you have to have a sense of gratitude and a sense of perspective.”
Tatum returned to the starting lineup in place of Baylor Scheierman, and Mazzulla did not mention any minutes restriction. Tatum has been ramping up towards this return for weeks.
“We’ve been having constant conversations about where are you at now, where do you want to get to,” Mazzulla explained. “How are you going to get there, what goes into that, all the things that are important. Really since Day 1 it’s just been a constant conversation throughout that process. You’ve just trusted his journey and I give him credit.
“We always knew he was coming back this year. I knew that when he decided to have the surgery within a 16-hour span on whatever the case was, so I want to give him credit for the vulnerability and the communication just about the journey.”
The TD Garden crowd roared as Tatum appeared on the jumbotron jogging out onto the floor for pregame layup lines. The team had to balance the emotions of celebrating Tatum along with the need to focus on beating the Mavericks, especially with Maine native Cooper Flagg in town for his first professional game in Boston.
“It’s a celebration for one of our teammates who has went through a journey and worked his [butt] off to get to where he is today,” Mazzulla said. “We appreciate that about our teammate and we come together to win the game. I think it’s just having an understanding of that’s the perspective that we have to have moving forward. As much of a big deal as it is.
“It’s not all that much different from acquiring a new player in the middle of the season, so you have to quickly build that relationship and earn that and apply that to the game the next night, so to speak. This is being part of a team and what we signed up for.”
Tatum was consistently around the team during his rehab process. Now, almost ten months after his injury, he gets to suit up once again.
“I think at the end of the day you have to take on the duality of what’s going on,” Mazzulla said. “Just because he was hurt doesn’t mean he wasn’t a part of the team. He’s been in film sessions, he’s been on the sidelines for practices. He’s been in workouts, he’s been traveling, and this is an opportunity where we have to come together as a team, so I think it’s both and it’s both things at the same time.”
https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-celtics/2026/03/06/jayson-tatum-return-joe-mazzulla-celtics-quotes/
