Celtics' Jayson Tatum Reflects on Return from Achilles Injury vs. Mavs, 'Really Good Step'

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum came out of his first game since tearing his Achilles optimistic about where his game is at and where it can get looking ahead to the postseason.

Speaking to reporters after Friday's 120-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks, Tatum called his season debut a "really good step" with room for improvement.

"I still got a long way to go," said Tatum "But this was a really good step."

Mavericks-Celtics Full Highlights

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Tatum, in his first game since May 12, 2025, was in the starting lineup for head coach Joe Mazzulla. He looked rusty out of the gate, missing each of his first six shot attempts.

After getting his first bucket on a put-back dunk late in the second quarter, Tatum found a rhythm for the rest of the game. He made six of his final 10 shot attempts to finish with 15 points, to go along with 12 rebounds and seven assists in 27 minutes.

"It's been a long time coming just to get to this point," Tatum said of his comeback journey. "Nights and days I dreamed about this moment and anticipation, the crowd. It's been 42½ weeks since I played in an NBA game, so just trying to get caught up on the speed and everything. I just kind of felt like I was a step off or moving too fast. But the game started to slow down as I just kind of relaxed a little bit."

The trio of Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White were all at least plus-20 against the Mavs. They combined for 31 of Boston's 62 points in the second half as the team improved to 13-3 in its last 16 games.

Since the 2005-06 season (h/t Yahoo Sports' Tom Haberstroh), Tatum had the 10th-fastest return to action of the 30 NBA players who played again after suffering a torn Achilles.

Barring any setbacks for Tatum, this is a potential huge difference-maker in the Eastern Conference going forward. The Celtics were already the No. 2 seed in the standings without their best player for the first 62 games of the season.

If Tatum settles into a groove the rest of this season and is playing anywhere close to his peak when the postseason begins, the Celtics have all the pieces in place to reach the NBA Finals for the third time in five years.