It was only 10 months ago that St. Louis Jayson Tatum suffered a catastrophic injury to his Achilles during last year’s National Basketball Association playoffs at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The former Chaminade College Prep All-American defied all odds by making his return to action on Friday night. And what a dramatic return it was.
Tatum scored 15 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and handed out seven assists in the Celtics’ 120-100 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at a very charged up and emotional TD Gardens Arena in Boston.
“It was surreal,” said Tatum in his post-game interview. “There were many days that I dreamed about this. And for it to finally happen and to share it with my family, my teammates, the crowd; it was everything I could have dreamed of.”
Tatum received a thunderous ovation from the home crowd when he was announced as one of the starters on Friday night. Early on, he showed the rust of not having played a game in nearly a year as he missed his first six shots from the field.
After that, the fans started to see glimpses of what made Tatum a perennial All-Star and 2025 world champion. He scored his first basket on a dunk off an offensive rebound, then he followed it up with one of his patented step-back 3-pointers from the corner, which sent the crowd into a frenzy. As he started to get his rhythm, he ended up making five shots in a row.
Tatum checked out of the game for the final time with five minutes left after playing 27 minutes in his debut.