MIAMI (AP) — Boston star Jayson Tatum doesn’t know how much longer it’ll take for him to feel like he’s playing basketball at his best level again.
That might be a scary statement.
Tatum — in only his 12th game back after tearing his Achilles in last season’s playoffs — did something that he’s never done, that no Boston player has done since 2010 and that only two other Celtics have done in the franchise’s illustrious history.
His numbers against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night: 25 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists. That’s a monster of a triple-double, and it came with him still looking to regain his top form after not playing for nearly a year.
“I wish I had a definitive answer,” Tatum said when asked after the game how much longer he’ll need to feel like he’s back to where he was before tearing the Achilles. “It sounds cliche. I feel a little bit better every game. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to be back to who I was, or hopefully better. But the goal is just to continue to stack days.”
Rajon Rondo had a triple-double with that many points, rebounds and assists for the Celtics in the 2010 playoffs. Larry Bird did it twice in regular season play, first in 1982 and then again in 1990. In Boston history, it had never happened outside of those three games.
Until now.
“I can tell he’s still out of shape,” Miami star Bam Adebayo said, smiling, when asked about his U.S. Olympic teammate. “But when you consider somebody like that your brother — we’ve known each other since we were like 12 — and you see what he’s gone through, obviously checking up on him through the rehab phase and the down days that he’s had, you’re proud of him for pushing through it and putting himself out there this season.
“He’s still trying to find his way, still trying to impact winning. You tip your hat off to somebody who’s been through that and still trying to play.”
The shot isn’t fully back yet; Tatum is at only 40% from the field so far in his comeback. But he’s averaging 21.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest in his first 12 games, numbers that suggest he’s not too far away from the elite, All-NBA level he’s been at over the past several years.
“To me, since he’s been back, he hasn’t missed a beat,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.
The Celtics have six games left in the regular season before likely opening the Eastern Conference playoffs as the No. 2 seed; they’re four games behind No. 1 Detroit and 2 1/2 games ahead of No. 3 New York, so that second spot seems like it’ll be the landing point.
It wasn’t clear when the season started if Tatum would be able to play, and even when he came back it wasn’t clear how impactful he would be.
Those questions aren’t being asked anymore. It’s been 46 weeks since his surgery; yes, every Tuesday, he updates the total in his mind. And even if he doesn’t feel like his old self yet, the stats say he’s either there or right on the brink of being there.
“Definitely the hardest thing I ever went through,” Tatum said. “I mean, I never took that much time off from basketball. The challenges that you have to face mentally and the long, dark moments and dark days … I mean, it is tough. It is. But I’m proud of the fact that I’ve made it this far.”
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