The Boston Celtics defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon in Jayson Tatum's second game back from his torn Achilles injury last May.
In 27 minutes, Tatum scored 20 points, grabbed three rebounds, and had two assists. The superstar scored 12 points in the first quarter, and then Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard, and Sam Hauser's three-pointers helped propel the Celtics to a 109-98 win.
Tatum would hit a dagger three-pointer late in the fourth quarter after the Cavs stormed back from down 26 points. It is hard not to believe that the Celtics will make another championship run out of the Eastern Conference with Tatum back healthy.
It is shocking to see Tatum back after 10 months. It was unclear how he would look right away, but head coach Joe Mazzulla revealed that there are a few things that he is crushing in his return … and they are “non-negotiable.”
Joe Mazzulla on Jayson Tatum’s individual defense and impact on the defensive glass:
“Rebounding and individual defense…There’s a ton of grace that you want to show, but once you step between those lines, there’s also non-negotiable that you’ve gotta do. And you’ve gotta… https://t.co/7VLJVYijAe pic.twitter.com/esRGDCiIv1
— Bobby Krivitsky (@BobbyKrivitsky) March 8, 2026
“Rebounding and individual defense…There’s a ton of grace that you want to show, but once you step between those lines, there’s also non-negotiable that you’ve gotta do. And you’ve gotta rebound, you’ve gotta defend, you’ve gotta compete, and he’s doing that.”
Tatum almost finished with a triple-double in his first game back against the Dallas Mavericks. He was three assists shy of it to go along with his 15 points and 12 rebounds. Against the Cavs, just three rebounds and two assists, but sometimes the ball just goes the other way as many other Celtics contributed on the boards. Four players had seven plus rebounds, including Baylor Scheierman with 10 off the bench.
The Celtics take on the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night on NBC/Peacock.
