Have you ever sat with tens of thousands of people while they hold their breath?
Here’s what it’s like.
Jayson Tatum returned to NBA play after 298 days of grueling rehabilitation work on the right Achilles tendon he ruptured last May. After the pageantry of a video montage and introduction, the game clock started, and the microscope descended on Number 0’s play.
His first shot was a tough angle but didn’t contact the backboard or rim. Okay, was that some nervousness? Jitters? That would be understandable. He executed a well-timed alley-oop to big man Neemias Queta – a confidence-builder he tried during two other early trips down to the offensive side of the floor.
Then came an air-balled three-pointer from his favorite spot on the floor – near the top of the key – and he sat. He had two assists and two rebounds, but was 0-2.
Would that first basket ever come?
With a minute left in the first quarter, Tatum walked over to the stationary bike with trainer Nick Sang and got warm.
Then, he was back in for the second quarter. He tallied an assist on a Sam Hauser three-pointer, but clanged two more shots from distance. He had to keep getting those shots up.
Would the ball ever fall?
Tatum found a clear path to the hoop – with the Garden faithful ready to spring to their feet - but legs that spent 10 months away from real-time game action gave him a reality check as the rim blocked his dunk attempt.
Every basketball player knows the exercise: you just have to see the ball go in once for the rim to grow in size. But, it’s a mental exercise, and it can’t be forced. Connecting mind-to-body at an elite level after surgery has to be tougher than any talk show hosts or columnists give credit for, especially when you’re the one guy doing so, 62 games into the season. The simple way we describe this disconnect is rust, and we talk about teams showing the signs of it after, say, a two-week layoff.
Try 42 weeks.
Brown swung the ball out to Tatum on the short corner, who found White for a three. He sat to rest with five assists and three rebounds, but shot 0-6.
When would the basket come?
He went back in for the final minutes of the half. A foul, then another rebound. Tatum wasn’t alone in his shooting woes: three other Celtics – Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, and Payton Pritchard – were shooting sub-40%. Not a single player from either team had posted more than 13 points.
"I just felt really anxious," Tatum said postgame. "It’s been a long time coming to get to this point. Nights, I dreamed about this moment."
Just over a minute left in the quarter. Pritchard missed a shot, and on a routine offensive rebound, Tatum stuffed the put-back dunk.
TD Garden exhaled. Finally. He knocked that goose egg over. Now, it was time to celebrate again.
But Tatum looked like a guy who just wanted to work, now that things were working. He sprinted down the court the next possession for a pull-up three that was a perfect swish from just under 25 feet and the building exploded. The last time I heard a roar like that, it wasn’t during the NBA Finals, it was during the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. Zdeno Chara took the ice ahead of Game 5 with a broken jaw he received from a deflected puck the game before.
Tatum took jumpers to warm up during halftime and sank them with ease, from midrange and behind the arc. He probably looked and felt better in the Auerbach Center than he did in those first 24 minutes. But a shoot around and minute 10 of an NBA game are worlds apart.
Second half: Tatum drove in for a layup. It wasn’t the prettiest footwork, but it went in, and he didn’t shy from contact. Another box checked.
Then, he brought the ball up in his slinky-cat way, looking fully in-rhythm for the first time all night. There’s that perfect midrange jumper. Brown dabbed him up midcourt during a whistle.
Next trip down, he sank a corner 3. His shooting went from 0-6 to 5-5.
Here’s a necessary statement: his process back won’t be a linear one. There will be more air balls, flailing, and failing. Tatum looked gassed in the third quarter as he stood with his hands on his hips, but he also looked like himself. He played 27 minutes and had a double-double. He showed in-game resilience: after missing a layup fed by Brown, he hit another corner three on the next trip down.
And while he rounded into form, so did the rest of the team. Their third quarter field goal percentage shot up to 61.9%, with Brown adding 12 points on his own. Over a few quarters we watched Tatum and the team go from trepidation to determination.
And oh yeah, they won the game in the process, (120-100).
With so much unknowable about how this comeback will unfold, this much is clear: the Celtics are about to make the East a lot more interesting.