Jayson Tatum Returns to MSG After Achilles Tear

All right.

On a Thursday, the Celtics were in New York to play the Knicks, which means Jayson Tatum was back at Madison Square Garden, the arena where his season ended after a ruptured Achilles nearly 11 months ago.

This was A very emotional night for Jayson Tatum.

He looked and sounded anxious at Boston shootaround, played pretty well in this game, 24 points, 13 rebounds.

The rebounds have been great for Tatum this year.

Uh, didn't shoot the ball all that well, but had a pretty strong second half that nearly powered Boston, which was playing without Jalen Brown to a win over the Knicks.

Afterwards, Tatum sounded like a man that was happy this game was over.

Take a listen.

It was a big moment, a big hurdle for me, um.

You know, I was, I was nervous and anxious to Come back here, um.

You know, obviously I wanted to win and play great, but, uh, more importantly, I just kind of wanted to walk off the court, um, you know, on my own 2 ft.

So I was at the game too, obviously, ET like yourself, and I, I really spent a lot of time during that game just watching Tatum.

Um, he looked fine going through the warm-ups, you know, hours before the game, but I think it really hit him right before the opening tip.

It was a little eerie actually when He lined up for that opening tip.

It was in almost the exact same spot where he collapsed 11 months ago, right there on his end, uh, just outside the three-point line.

And I know Tatum was aware of that because once he got into the flow of the game, uh, he looked pretty good out there on the floor.

What did you think of what you saw, uh, from Tatum and how significant was this for him to play his first game back at MSG?

Man, I thought he looked really, really good.

You know, I think one thing that we keep saying, obviously, he hasn't, he didn't start off scoring well, but you have to, you know, see that coming since they set Jalen Brown and you have such a good defense trying to, you know, hone in and set in on him.

But I thought even in the first half, That offense was clicking.

I thought he found the right passes.

I thought he kind of got to his spots.

I think one thing that makes me so amazed with him is, uh, You know, mentally it's been wearing like weighing on him and how he's been feeling and stuff, but how he shows up and battles through, you know, even if it's a a young individual, like a young mindset, and he doesn't um He didn't take a step back or anything.

I thought he showed up and almost had a triple-double.

He almost beat, you know, one of the top, uh, teams in the East in a, you know, a big, big moment.

He played 40 minutes, and, um, I think one thing, 40 minutes is big, yeah, and, and that, and that's where I was, I, I looked at it from a different side of the game, and I feel as though I had to, when you know, the Boston Celtics, they set JB, they're looking bigger.

They're like, Yo, this is checkers, you know what I mean, this is chess, not checkers.

So I kind of saw it being like, damn, like he, he's getting his rhythm under him.

He's able to, to, to focus on now him being the first option on, on offense.

So now he has a real defense being set and he's just getting his legs all the way under him.

And I think halfway through the game, he forgot about the The moment of the injury and he was just getting back on the floor and being like, hey, how do I win?

What do I gotta do to get my guy set up?

What do I do to get paid another shot?

How can I make sure I put it in the right position so Neimas is gonna finish the first time, so I will have a triple-double, you know what I mean?

And, and I think what, no, but Nimes is killing too, so Cada is killing, don't get it wrong, but I think it's coming down to being like, hey, he, he went from uh Worry about the outer limits to him doing what he's always doing and being like, how do I win?

And we're watching like a a a an elite individual, elite player evolve into, you know, even more of a master of the game, bro.

One of them legs is still skinny.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like, like a top defense, he came out and gave them 25, 13.

He had 13 rebounds with the best rebounder in the, in, in the league.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, there's a lot of stuff you can correlate, and they should have won that game.

I mean, We already talked about this, man.

They had a, they found a limit and took advantage of him.

But anytime Josh Hart is gonna hit 5 or 7 3s, I'm, I'm gonna sleep well at night, you know what I mean, commando style, so we're all good.

What, what do you think?

You could take that one.

I'm the commando style, but what do you think about him?

Uh, I thought he looked solid.

Um, it, it definitely took him time to settle into the game.

The first half wasn't great.

He was 2 of 6 in the first quarter.

He was 0-5 in the second quarter, but when he came out after halftime, he was outstanding.

He had 8 points in the third quarter, 6 points in the fourth, and you're right, playing without Jalen Brown.

They were a couple of, you know, contested 3s from by Josh Hart away from, you know, potentially winning that game.

So you gotta feel good coming out of that game for the Celtics.

You gotta feel great coming out of that game if you're Jayson Tatum.

I, I saw a lot of stuff from people being like, oh, why is he that worked up about returning to the Garden?

It shouldn't be that traumatic.

Well, it was.

It was clearly a, a traumatic moment.

It's been a traumatic 11 months for Jason Tatum.

He and I were talking.

In the locker room after everybody had left and, you know, one of the things that we talked about was how a few hours before the game, um, he was so anxious that he went to the bathroom at his hotel and threw up.

Like that, that's how anxious he was.

Uh, hours before this game and just stepping onto that floor, being back in that arena, it's kind of brings back the flood of memories, which are the worst memories of your professional basketball career.

I don't know if you have a similar kind of, you know, place where maybe you got injured or a place that, that, you know, that's still, when you walk into that building or you go to that place, it, it bothers you, but clearly, This, you know, in the first time back, this was something that Tatum was not looking forward to, that was obviously bothering him going into the game, which slowed him down probably early in the game, but to his credit, he figured it out, got it going, and wound up having this team this close, this close to pulling off what was a pretty improbable win.

Yeah, and I think one thing that people don't like, uh, sometimes you forget those moments of before Tatum went down last year, what he was on his journey to do.

He's about to repeat.

You know what I mean, he was on, he had 40, he was on his way to repeating, he was on his way to Taking himself into another step, into like the basketball mega, you know what I mean, megasphere, you know what I'm saying?

I think one thing that occurred of like when he went down, uh, So, by the time he came back up, everybody was gone, and it's, now he didn't lose everything, but his, his guaranteed championship team is gone.

They trade off everything.

He has to rebuild his leg, and then there's, there's more superstars coming up and the SGA got the league on smash.

You know what I mean?

And I think like when, when it occurred, and I remember just talking to him like, man, everything was going great, and now I have to like come back and battle back from it.

I never like felt anything.

I broke my back in college.

It made me weary of trying to like go up and dunk certain type of ways.

But I mean, the only place that ever made me feel weird is probably going back to Philadelphia.

Uh, like I literally hate it.

I hated that place, but just I think there's certain moments and things that like tie into it where you'll always feel weird, which is why I give so much respect to Tatum and like his mental capacity because certain people can be stuck in it and it only took him that half and then he got right like locked right back in, you know.

I know we've said this before about him, but it really is the most remarkable basketball comeback story in recent memory, um, to be out there.

Um, playing 40 minutes.

We're just a little over a month removed from his return to basketball.

Playing 40 minutes, scoring 24 points, pulling down 13 rebounds after an Achilles tear.

That doesn't happen, man.

Like guys have returned faster than Jason Tatum, but Wesley Matthews wasn't the same guy when he came back from that injury.

Kobe Bryant wasn't the same guy when he came back from that injury.

Jayson Tatum doesn't look quite like Jason Tatum yet, but Every game he's like adding a percentage.

He might be at like 86.5% right now of the Jayson Tatum that we're used to seeing.

He keeps getting bigger and better and improving his game and improving his stamina more and more.

Now, it, it's clear that the basketball shackles are off here.

Like there's no minutes restrictions, there's no limitations.

He's just go out, allowed to go out there and play 40 minutes a game and that's ridiculous, ridiculous.

How many guys have we seen on lesser injuries, on lesser.

Comebacks, come back with minutes restrictions for the rest of the season.

Victor Wembayama, and I'm not knocking him for this, but he's basically been on a minutes restriction all season long.

He's, you know, for most of the year, he's been kept under 30 minutes per game .

That's to keep him healthy and preserve him.

Jayson Tatum didn't play until early March, and now he's out there playing 40 minutes and, you know, bumping up against triple-doubles and, and you mentioned, you mentioned Kada.

Kada, I don't know if there's a, there's a, a, a category that probably isn't for like, Almost assists.

Like Caden's kind of the king of like , you give him the ball and he might miss the first shot, but then he gets it back and he gets it, he puts it the second time around and nobody else gets the assist off that.

That happened in Tatum's first game.

I remember being there for his debut and he had a couple of picture-perfect passes to Kada that he just.

Couldn't finish there like that, but that's, that's part of Kada, yeah.

And then like when he puts it up after he misses it, it's like, why didn't you just do that the first time?

Like you know, like, so like it's not like getting mad, but it's like, bro, that was the exact same shot and you were right there, like , you know what I'm saying?

Now I shot it out.

That's all I'll say.

Tatum should have like 6 triple-doubles by now, like, and I'm not knocking it.

They're winning.

I'm just like, it would have made the story better like on some Jordan shit.

That's all I'm saying.

But shout out to Kata overall though.

I, I haven't filled up my ballot.

I'm gonna give him strong consideration for most improved player.

Like a guy that was a bit player last year who had zero expectations coming into this year, the fact that he has been a workhorse for this team, a stabilizing influence, the most reliable front court player on the Boston Celtics.

I mean, he deserves consideration for most improved and he's had like between 2 or 3 of his teammates like just their duo net rating.

It's like something like the like the top combos in the league like he's really balling and then when you do kind of like I'd be wanting like to bring up where these guys started from so it's kind of like, yo, he should not be here.

Like, do you understand what I'm saying?

He shouldn't be in consideration like what Nakil Walker Alexander's doing is unbelievable, but, uh, or Nakil Alexander Walker, but I mean, T is, is what he's doing is big time, man.

God bless him and shout out to Brad for signing that good ass deal.

Like, shit, you're about to have him overworked.

He, he fits my criteria for most improved.

It's, it's a very subjective criteria, but I see a lot of people voting for like guys that were high lottery picks.

But to me those guys are supposed to improve.

Like if you're the number 125, even 10 pick, like you're supposed to be a good player in this league, uh, Kada.

He was a Sacramento King a few years ago.

Like he wasn't, nobody thought this guy was going to be this kind of impact player, but when asked to play a bigger role, he not only embraced it, he thrived in it.

And that's the kind of guy to me that deserves to be.

Really strongly considered for that top spot, uh, for the award, but yeah, he's, he's, he's on my very short list.

But, uh, good for Tatum.

This was a big box for him to check, um, and look, it's not over because more likely than not we're gonna be right back there in a month, bro.

It's like gonna wear that ass out, bro.

Like they, man, you saw that game last night, man.

At one point, bro, they had Shamme running point guard.

They're gonna, they're gonna wear that ass out , bro.

It was almost like when you sat on the bench.

You tell me, man.

The Celtics are kind of maniacal in the sense of how they just play with you after.

Like they're not me, I remember a few years ago when they were like, yo, we're we're not worried about the Sixers, they can't beat us in any sense, like in any form or fashion.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like I almost feel that way with the Knicks are being like, they were hyped last year, but just look how like Bro, they damn near beat, shout out to the Celtics, bro.

They damn near beat them with nobody, dog.

Like they beat them with a bunch of 6-pointers.

Like everybody's doing their 6 points and it was Peyton and Jason.

Like, do you know what I'm saying, like .

And I don't think, I don't think the Celtics were showing their, obviously they weren't showing their full hand because Brown didn't play, but I have a feeling you're not gonna see the amount of minutes that Nikola Vusovich played against the, I don't think I'll see, I think you'll see much more Luca Garza in, in that role.

Uh, Kada will still be playing, but I, it's like the Celtics were.

Treating that like it was a preseason game in the NFL and they have this team on the schedule, you know, for the regular season.

That's how they were kind of looking at it to me.

That's how I, I view it, and I love my Big 10 brethren and I love my guy Nick, but I was appalled when I was like, God damn it, put Garza in.

Like, like, you know what I mean?

Like, god damn it, play Garza.

Like what, man.

He had a, he had a decent finish, but a very rough start.

Yeah, I mean anytime he plays well, everybody's gonna play well.

That means that like the faucet is open.

That means like buckets are going to be scored, like dudes that don't hoop gonna get their career high.

Like that's what occurs when my when my dog starts killing.

If he is going to play, he's got to make open threes and he missed a couple of them in this game against New York.

Like your, your greatest value is that you're the best floor spacing big, at least theoretically on that team.

Um, if you're missing wide open threes from the corner, from the elbows, like you, you're Gone because you don't, you're not gonna bring enough to the table otherwise to justify your minutes and that man, that ass get tight.

So just hold on, hold on.

Like everybody waiting for you to hit 4 playoff series and you were on a team for one of them.

Yeah, I had to carry him.

Shit, I was playing.

That's why I look and be like, hey brother, win a series ain't that goddamn hard because we did it.

It wasn't that hard.

You just had to focus in for a week and find your matchup a week earlier.

That was all.