BOSTON — The crowd started buzzing even before Jayson Tatum emerged fully from the Boston Celtics’ tunnel an hour and a half before tipoff Friday night.
Some fans were in position to see Tatum, returning from a torn Achilles, walking toward the court. Others knew he must be approaching because of the excitement building nearby. The section near the tunnel, far more filled than it normally would be so long before a game, welcomed him back with a standing ovation as he arrived for his pregame warmups.
Tatum’s season debut filled the TD Garden crowd with a level of enthusiasm normally reserved for big playoff games. During a night to remember, he collected 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists as the Celtics topped the Dallas Mavericks 120-100.
The rust showed early
He missed his first six shots, including an airball and a front-rimmed dunk. He didn’t score until converting a putback dunk after a Payton Pritchard miss with one minute left in the second quarter. That bucket seemed to give Tatum back some level of comfort. On the next Celtics possession, he drained a stepback 3-pointer from the left corner. Despite the apparent rust, he entered halftime on pace for a triple-double with 5 points, five rebounds and five assists over 14 minutes. Tatum let out a smile before walking to the Celtics locker room.
The rust didn’t last for long
After missing his first six shots, Tatum drained his next five. He scored 5 points over the final 1:16 of the second quarter and 7 points over the first 3:29 of the second. During that stretch, he finished a strong drive at the rim, pulled up for a midrange jumper in the pick-and-roll and drained a 3-pointer over a nearby defender. His scoring outburst helped the Celtics take a double-digit lead during the third quarter. They continued pulling away during the fourth.
Tatum didn’t play his normal minutes, but received enough (27) to be viewed as a sign of confidence in his physical state.
“It’s been a long journey,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said before the game, “and the culmination of a new journey begins today. It’s a credit to him for the work ethic that he’s put in, and the support staff — his family and also the support staff of the Celtics — getting to this point. So now we start another one.”
Tatum was prominently involved
The Celtics ran a bunch of offense through Tatum, as they normally would.
Even during his slow start, his talent shone through. Two minutes in, he produced the first basket of the game by finding Neemias Queta for an alley-oop. Over the next couple of minutes, Tatum found Queta near the rim two more times, though the big man failed to capitalize on either of the opportunities. Tatum racked up two rebounds and two assists over his first stint, but did not score during the first quarter.
After sitting out the final six minutes of the first quarter, Tatum returned to start the second. He quickly gave up an offensive rebound on a missed free throw. Three minutes later, he further showed his rust while getting rejected by the rim on a dunk attempt. Including that one, he missed all six of his shot attempts during the first quarter.
Scheierman back to the bench
With Tatum back in the starting lineup, Baylor Scheierman moved to the bench. While incorporating Tatum back into a team that experienced a roster overhaul since he last suited up, Mazzulla will need to rearrange other parts of the rotation.
The Celtics lost another key contributor during the first quarter when Nikola Vučević fractured his right ring finger. Luka Garza scored 10 points while replacing Vučević, who only played two minutes before the injury.
An electric atmosphere
The atmosphere felt more like an NBA Finals game than a regular-season tilt. The crowd erupted when Tatum stepped onto the court for pregame layup lines. A fan broke the silence by shouting “welcome back” during the middle of the national anthem. As Tatum walked toward the bench for starting lineup introductions, hundreds of lights could be seen across the arena from all the phones recording videos of him. Even with an earlier 7 p.m. tipoff, everybody seemed to be in their seats on time. Nobody wanted to miss the show.
Despite the slow start, Tatum delivered for his team and the fans. He checked out with five minutes left and received another standing ovation.
“It is a celebration for one of our teammates that has went through a journey and worked his ass off to get to where he is today,” Mazzulla said before the game. “And so we appreciate that about our teammate, and we come together as a team to win the game.”