Jayson Tatum appears ready for the regular season.
It didn't take the rising superstar much time to deliver a highlight-reel play in the Celtics' 98-97 win over the Magic Monday at the T.D. Garden. Early in the third quarter, Tatum unleashed an incredible posterizing dunk, sailing over Wendell Carter Jr.
Tatum finished with 18 points on the night to go along with nine rebounds. He and Jaylen Brown combined for 24 of the Celtics' first 29 points.
While Tatum and Brown looked ready to go, it was a rough night overall for the Celtics offensively, as they shot 35% from the field. Romeo Langford, who's looking to become a dependable contributor off the bench in his third season, nailed a late-game three-pointer to award Boston its one-point victory.
Ime Udoka is now 1-0.
"Obviously, a pretty ugly win overall," he told reporters, via the Boston Globe. "On the offensive end you shoot 35%, I don't know how many wins you're gonna get, but we made them late when they counted. Defensively I thought we were solid, had some slippage in areas."
Though the lineup remains in flux, the Celtics' depth was on display. Udoka went with a 10-man rotation in the first half, slotting in Josh Richardson, Al Horford, Dennis Schröder, Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith to play with the starting five. Enes Kanter, Grant Williams and Langford found the floor in the second half.
But of course, the Celtics' fortunes will largely depend on Tatum and Brown. Brown led all scorers with 25 points. Afterwards, he said his wrist is 80-85% healed.
Tatum and Brown leading the way with valuable contributions from role players seems like a pretty good formula. It's a new-look Celtics team, and though Monday was far from a perfect effort, it was a promising tease of what could come later this fall when the games count for real.
