A Triggering Experience Awaits Jayson Tatum, and it's Another Mental Hurdle to Clear

Jayson Tatum’s return from a torn Achilles has gone almost perfectly. He’s averaging 21.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game, numbers that just about any Boston Celtics fans would have signed up for 10 months ago. His efficiency is still a work in progress, but the fact that we can get nit-picky about how he’s playing is a testament to how well everything has gone.

“It was a really well thought out process by [Tatum’s surgeon] Dr. [Martin] O'Malley and [Celtics trainer] Nick Sang and [Executive Director of Performance] Phil Coles, and followed to strictly by Jayson,” Brad Stevens said Tuesday night. “Everybody involved with that gets a lot of credit because of the amount of work that everybody put into it.”

Tatum’s progress has been incredible. He played 39 minutes in Boston’s win over the Charlotte Hornets, scoring 20 for his sixth-straight game and playing the entire fourth quarter. His return to action has been a mind-bending journey that redefines how Achilles injuries should be treated. But to get where he is now involved a lot of things we couldn't see.

“It became clear probably around the trade deadline, that early February time, that he was in a pretty good spot physically,” Stevens said. “We did a lot of small games and we had the Maine team down. Got a chance to play a little bit live on the start of the post-All-Star trip. You could see that, not only was he going to come along pretty quickly, but you could also see that he was getting more eager to play.”

That eagerness has been on full display so far, but you’ll excuse Tatum if he hits the pause button on it for one night, because he’s about to go through the most triggering experience of his career: A return to Madison Square Garden.

When he was asked about whether he was looking forward to Thursday’s game against the Knicks, he let out an honest “Nah, not really.” The last time he was there, he left on a wheelchair thinking his career might be over. The last time he saw that locker room, he was surrounded by family with tears in their eyes.

“Last time I played there obviously it was a traumatic experience for me,” Tatum said. “Obviously I knew at some point I would have to get over that hurdle and play there again. So, it’s gonna have to be this Thursday, but it’s not like I’m thrilled about it. But it’s part of it. I decided to come back and play so I’m not necessarily skipping certain games. I can’t play back-to-backs right now but I decided to come back and play so it’s just another game on the schedule.”

It’s another mental hurdle for Tatum to clear; a test of will versus human nature. It’ll be easy to let intrusive thoughts get the best of him if he lets it. Will his brain let him just focus on basketball when he’s standing on that same spot again, almost 11 months to the day after crumpling to the floor?

For Tatum, the only way through it, is to go through it.

“I was going to have to play here at some point, so I might as well get it out the way now,” Tatum said.

It’s not like Tatum was going to be able to avoid MSG forever anyway. He might be right back on that floor on the anniversary of his injury because the Celtics and Knicks could very easily meet in the second round of the playoffs again. Tatum is probably going to have to answer all these questions one more time.

As with most players in this position, the solace comes with the basketball. Tatum has a month of good ball under his belt. He’s gone through all the steps and checked all the boxes, and it’s resulted in 15 games that have defied every outside expectation. Even if Thursday is tough, he has the basketball, and his team, to get him through it.

“It seems like JT is in a good spot,” Jaylen Brown said. “He's playing good basketball. He's rebounding the ball, he's handling those physical drives, looks more explosive than those first couple of games, so I think he's trending in the right direction. I don't know if mentally there possibly could be something, but that's what teammates are there for. We've got his back, so we'll go out there and do what we got to do.”