Tatum Wins Player of the Week After 11 Games Back From Injury

Last thing for you, let's keep it in the Eastern Conference.

The Boston Celtics rolling, rolling right now.

Your guy Jayson Tatum, rolling right now.

The reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

I get these Eastern Conference and Western Conference Player of the Week stuff in my email every single week, Evan.

I ignore it every single time because I don't care.

I usually think it's a dumb award, but this one.

This one mattered.

Jayson Tatum being the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, like 3 weeks removed from returning from a ruptured Achilles tendon after taking 10 months off is insane, is insane.

Tatum, what he is doing is one of the great medical miracles in modern sports history.

What Jason Tatum, Jason Tatum's body, he and his game.

Will be studied by sports scientists , by doctors, by teams forever.

This return is one of the most remarkable things that I have seen in my 20 some odd years covering the NBA.

He is not only finding his groove offensively, but statistically, he is a much better defensive player than I ever thought he was going to be.

Like you come back from an Achilles tear, not only are you working on your explosiveness.

Offensively, but defensively, that's where a lot of guys tend to suffer from right off the bat.

The lateral movement, the quickness, all the things you need to be at least a serviceable defensive player.

You look at some of these Tatum numbers, they are outstanding on the defensive end of the floor.

He is getting better and better every single game.

A freaking triple-double against the Miami Heat.

A triple-double against Miami in a consequential Eastern Conference game.

This guy is less than a month removed from a freaking Achilles recovery.

What are we doing?

Incredible what Jayson Tatum is doing right now.

Yeah, you, you just gave me chills, man.

First off, shout out to Nick Sang, unbelievable trainer.

Nick Sang getting a lot of love, a lot of love these days.

Nick Sang is getting a lot of love.

My guy Nick.

Hey, and when that banner go up, Nickang name needs to be there because What did you just said, bro, 3 weeks removed from an Achilles injury that you should have sat out on.

And now he's back to player of the week.

I thought it was crazy him coming back.

I'm like, You're coming back now.

I know you have a chance to win, but man, this is a real injury.

Look at Kevin Durant set up 17 months.

The guys that come back early, Kobe, Wesley Matthews, they have not looked like their former selves.

He looks like Tatum.

He looks like.

Jayson Tatum and like the shooting percentages, which have been a little bit low, they're gonna go up.

That's just sharpening the blade, man.

That's not like your body.

That's just sharpening your skill set.

And the more comfortable he gets in reincorporating, re-ingratiating himself back into this Boston offense, the better they're gonna be.

Yeah, 100%.

I also think you gotta give him, uh, you know, credit for his IQ.

I think sometimes you gotta equate it to sometimes when those great players get older and they can't rely on their athletic athleticism anymore, they have to beat you with their mind.

So this is just giving a, a little, you know, inkling of how impressive his mind is, how much of Savani is for the game of basketball.

Because when you're sitting there, You know, you should be immobile.

He, he's being able to do his work early, beat people on the defensive end, and then also offensively, you're getting triple-doubles.

You're figuring out ways how to manipulate the game all while playing with a top 10 score alongside you.

You know what I mean?

You figured out to be like, hey, I, I, you still have to worry about me at a high, high level, and he hasn't even hit his stride yet.

Gotta give him a lot of credit for, uh, how he stayed prepped, how he stayed, uh, prepared and locked in, and just, it's natural, it's a natural game, but This shows his IQ, his mind, and, and, and how well he can adapt.

He's, he's only been playing with his teammates and his team for like 1 month maybe.

You know what I mean?

Not even that.

He probably practiced for all of 5 weeks.

You get that rhythm, get that flow, and the other guys aren't losing a beat either.

It's exceptional.

Yeah, Jalen Brown had 43 points in that game against Miami.

I kind of mean, everybody kind of ate in that game against Miami, but he had, uh, 29 in the game against Atlanta before then, 31 in the game against Oklahoma City, 29 against Minnesota.

That was a crappy game for everybody.

Uh, but his numbers in March with Tatum back, 26.5 points, uh, 7 rebounds, shooting 44% from the floor, 30% from 3.

That's not great.

Some of the numbers went down there, but they're, they're roughly comparable.

With what he's been doing, yeah, what he's been doing all season long, and you got to give Jalen, Jalen Brown a ton of credit for like finding a way to make this work too.

Like he's been the super high usage rate guy for the Celtics all season long.

He has been slowly ceding some of that usage, some of those shots to Jayson Tatum, and it's working for both of them.

I, I don't know how, look, respect to Detroit and what they're doing right now.

The fact that the Pistons have been able to fend off the Celtics over the last couple of weeks with Cade Cunningham out is remarkable.

Jalen Duurrann.

Just give him a damn max contract right now.

Like he is a max contract guy.

What he's been doing in, uh, Cunningham's absence has been remarkable.

But you, like, I don't know what Cade's status is, how, where he's gonna be come playoff time, but even if he's healthy, I'm still favoring Boston in a series against the Pistons.

I'm favoring Boston in a series against New York.

I'm definitely favoring Boston in a series against Cleveland.

It is remarkable.

This Tatum recovery, again.

Will be studied for generations to come.

Everybody that tears their Achilles is going to go, I can be back in 10 months.

Why?

Because Jayson Tatum did it.

All I have to do is get that surgery within 24 hours, attack my recovery right away, get into October, do a bunch of interviews for.

drug that you were recovering for the using and say , I circled the date on the calendar.

I circled the date on the calendar, and that's when I'm going to be back.

He did it.

It's an incredible accomplishment.

Now, the Celtics are in a position not only to win the Eastern Conference, but maybe win a damn championship this year, which would be an absolutely insane accomplishment for on the team level for any team in NBA history.

No, it'd be unreal.

It, it, the whole thing has just been, it's crazy to see, it's been a blessing and uh I'm, I'm hyped, I'm hyped for him.

I'm, I'm so glad he was able to come back and bounce back and his story is, uh, the story has been unbelievable.

So I think it's gonna make for even more legendary basketball coming, coming spring.

So, I'm looking forward to it and um Man, God bless him.

I remember talking to him and being like, hey, bro, I just told Chris, you know, you'll hoop like, uh, Chris Middleton at the very least.

And he's like, nah, bro, I'm gonna come back hooping like ET with a jumper.

And I was like, damn, you hoop like and I thought, I was like, damn.

I was like, if you hoop like that, you'll win a championship.

And he's like, facts.

And look how, like, look, I mean, he's shooting 30.

From the 3, that's some ET shit, but other than that, he's going great.

He's going great.

He's going that is going like those numbers are going to skyrocket as the season goes on.

And like Drew Hanlin, my favorite, uh, Twitter user slash personal trainer, points out that the Celtics, when Jayson Tatum's, uh, usage rate is high and he had a usage rate.

Rate of like, uh, I think was it close to, I don't know what it, what it was , but usage rate is above 33%.

The Celtics have a record, uh, when he posted this of 26-2.

So he's, his usage rate, when it's up there, it's really good.

The Celtics 10-2 with Tatum back in the lineup now.

Over the last three games, he's averaged like 28 per game, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, playing good defense.

Incredible.

Like he's like if you were making an all NBA team for the month of March, he's on it.

And that's, that's an incredible accomplishment for a guy that's, that's just coming back from this kind of injury.

Yeah.

And the worst thing is like, don't, don't let the game get slowed down.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like when it comes to playoff time and half quarter, even when you watch Detroit versus versus OKC the other night, it grinds out like.

Yeah, I mean, I, I mean, I god damn, that's.

Man, that's, bro, that's crazy, that's scary.

A lot of, a lot of , a lot of weapons in the half court for the Celtics going into the playoffs, and that's gonna be a problem for some of these teams.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's, that's actually scary.

Those numbers are actually very, very like we're laughing about it.

I'm happy for them, and that is, that's actually biz that, that doesn't make any sense.

Right?

Like, like what you said, I'm like that makes, that doesn't make any sense.