Jayson Tatum said his second game back felt “a lot more normal” than his emotional return against the Mavericks in Boston on Friday.
CLEVELAND — Jayson Tatum did not initially expect his mother, Brandy Cole-Barnes, to be at the Boston Celtics’ game Sunday afternoon. Though she is a regular presence at home games, she hasn’t always traveled on the road. Her text message in the morning, letting Tatum know she would be attending the game, caught her son by surprise.
“I was like, ‘You’re coming to Cleveland?’” Tatum said. “She was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll be there.’
“So as happy as I am to be back, she’s just as happy.”
How happy? When Tatum looked up into the stands during the Celtics’ 109-98 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers, he said he could often see his mother crying. She had seen his devastation on the night he tore his Achilles. She had watched him work for 10 months to recover from the injury. She had experienced all the ups and downs of his rehab with him.
“She was just crying just because, obviously, she was with me the entire way,” Tatum said. “So for me to be back on the court obviously brings my mom a lot of joy. And that’s an incredible feeling just looking up there and seeing her in the crowd.”
The tears were a sign of how fresh Tatum’s return remains. Still, in other ways, he said his second game back felt “a lot more normal” than his first. While scoring 20 points on 6-for-16 shooting, Tatum could focus more on the basketball, rather than the emotions of stepping back onto the court after such a long rehab journey.
“The other day was such a big deal, and obviously, in a home game in the city of Boston, I had a lot of family in town,” Tatum said. “Today just kind of felt like getting back in the flow of things. And that felt good for me.”
Joe Mazzulla said he expects “an easy integration” as the Celtics readjust to life with Tatum. Over his first two games, Tatum and his teammates have looked ready to make the coach seem wise. Though Boston had some rough offensive possessions early Sunday, Tatum quickly put an end to that trend by scoring 12 points over the first seven minutes. He splashed home a fadeaway jumper from the low post, crossed over into a long 3-pointer, finished twice through contact at the rim and made three free throws after drawing a foul on a 3-point attempt. Tatum also grabbed two rebounds and handed out an assist before checking out for the first time with 3:19 left in the first quarter.
“He looks unbelievable,” Payton Pritchard said, “especially the way he started today. He’s doing things not many players have done.”
The rest of the game didn’t go quite so smoothly. Still, Tatum delivered another promising performance after collecting 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in his season debut. Though he missed seven of his nine 3-point attempts, he drained a clutch triple with two minutes left after the Cavaliers had pulled within nine points.
Afterward, he celebrated by holding up his follow-through for an extra second, as if to admire his work, then staring down at his hands. Later, in the Celtics locker room, he made a similar gesture in front of a couple of teammates.
“I missed you,” Tatum said while looking at his shooting hand.
After beating the Mavericks 120-100 on Friday, the Celtics have won their two games with Tatum by an average of 15.5 points. Overall, they have won 14 of their last 17 games with the league’s best defensive rating and second-best net rating (plus-12.1) during that stretch. They appear to be trending in the right direction, especially if Tatum can continue to regain his powers over the final month of the regular season.
“I don’t think his game has gone anywhere,” Pritchard said. “I’ve seen him working on it. I think it’s more now, after not playing in a while, you’ve just got to get your flow back. Like, one-on-one reads, stuff like that.”
Pritchard added, “I’m just glad we have a first-team all-NBA player back, a guy that can do it all and makes our team better. So it’s hard to guard us when you have to worry about him, JB, (Derrick) White, then Sam (Hauser), Baylor (Scheierman), so many guys. So it makes us a really, really good team.”
As charmed as the last couple of games have been, the Celtics will get tested further over the remainder of their trip with games at San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
Jaylen Brown believes his team is likely to encounter some challenges while reincorporating Tatum.
“It seems seamless for now, but that’s usually not how things go,” Brown said. “Obviously, we got JT. JT is a great player, smart, intelligent basketball. He can integrate, but it’s an adjustment phase, so I think we’re all gonna be learning. This trip will give us some good information, but if it doesn’t go as how we expected, I don’t want anybody to panic. I know I’m talking to Celtics fans, but we’re still figuring it out.”
As thrilled as Tatum has been to suit up again, one aspect of the experience has frustrated him: his minutes restriction. While receiving 27 minutes in each of his two games, he has not liked playing shorter stints and sitting for longer than he normally would. Otherwise, he said the experience of stepping back into the lineup has been “seamless” so far. He emphasized that he feels confident in his body, but wants to keep in mind that he is still working his way back to top form.
“I talked a little bit with Klay Thompson after the game the other day,” Tatum said. “And his message was, one of his messages was like, ‘Man, just give yourself some grace.’ He said that he wished he would have given himself more grace (when coming back from a torn Achilles with the Warriors in 2022). Obviously, being elite athletes and competitors that we are, we want it so bad, but I’m still on the road to recovery and this is just a phase of it.”
Even so, it’s not hard to dream about what the Celtics could accomplish this season. They have looked like a contender even without Tatum. With him, now, they have overwhelmed two opponents.
“The team has been playing incredible all season,” Tatum said. “I’m just happy I’m at a point where I can add to that and be a part of that success, that chemistry, the learning part of it. Obviously, the most important thing is competing to win. We’ve done that at the highest level. And we’re trying to get back there.”
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Jay King is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Boston Celtics. He previously covered the team for MassLive for five years. He also co-hosts the “Anything Is Poddable” podcast. Follow Jay on Twitter @byjayking
