Boston Celtics: Does Jayson Tatum’s Return Transform This Team Into A Title Contender? (Mar 7)

The Boston Celtics’ 2025 postseason run concluded in the worst way imaginable. Not only were they ousted by the New York Knicks, but Jayson Tatum sustained a ruptured Achilles in Game 4 of that series.

On the heels of such a serious injury, he was expected to miss the entire 2025-26 campaign. And with one of their key players on the bench for the entire season, expectations were very low for this storied franchise.

However, the Cs have significantly exceeded expectations. In fact, they had the second-best record in the Eastern Conference heading into Friday night’s action.

Not only that, but Tatum returned to the starting lineup in the team’s matchup against the Dallas Mavericks. As expected, the All-Star forward was a bit rusty, missing his first six shot attempts, including a trio of 3-pointers.

But on the flip side of the narrative, he shot 6-for-10 the rest of the way. His final stat line included 15 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists. He finished with a plus-20 rating in 27 minutes of action, helping the Celtics defeat the Mavericks 120-100.

Tatum offered this assessment following the game.

“It was surreal,” Tatum said of his first game back. “It was an emotional day. It’s been a long journey. Many days I dreamed about this. And for it to finally happen, to share it with my family, my teammates, the crowd, it was everything I could’ve dreamed of.

“I still got a long way to go. But this is a huge step.”

True, Tatum was somewhat inefficient in his return. But that is expected after nearly a year away from the game. On a positive note, the Celtics have 19 regular-season games left to help JT re-acclimatize to the pace of NBA games. Given how well they performed during his absence, anything he can give them during the upcoming postseason will be a huge plus, making them a difficult out for any opponent.