BOSTON — Jayson Tatum poked his head around the corner of the Celtics locker room, seeing Hugo Gonzalez surrounded by reporters. Gonzalez was fresh off another career-best performance, this time in the Celtics’ thrilling comeback win Monday over the Pacers.

The day before, Tatum had a comment for Gonzalez after his recent play. The C’s face of the franchise wanted Gonzalez to relay that same message to the media. The young rookie declined since it wasn’t appropriate, but Tatum was blunt: “He a bad (expletive).” That’s life for the 19-year-old as he’s enjoyed a breakout stretch of games.

Gonzalez figured to be part of the Celtics’ future after being picked 28th overall in the first round last summer. But as he continues to stack electric games like Monday, he’s making a serious push to be part of the franchise’s present and more playing time.

“Just try to make it happen,” Gonzalez said. “We, everyone on the court, wanted to win. We needed some energy. We needed to believe in a comeback. I think that sometimes, whoever was on the court, I’m sure they were going to help with that, and that’s what we needed.”

Gonzalez finished the game with six points, 11 rebounds, one assist, one steal and two blocks. Plus/minus isn’t a perfect stat, but there’s a reason why he was a team-high plus-21 in a career-high 37 minutes. Gonzalez played nearly the entire second half Monday as he thrived and made plays.

The Celtics were initially sleepy to start the night, falling behind by 20 points against a Pacers team that made 12 3-pointers in the first half. After a sluggish opening few minutes to the second half, C’s coach Joe Mazzulla benched his starters. But Gonzalez, who started the second half, was the lone player who didn’t get sent to the bench.

Instead, Gonzalez just made play after play. Celtics fans saw familiar sights when Gonzalez drew an offensive foul on Andrew Nembhard. Gonzalez crashed the boards like his life depended on it. His defense was energetic and spry, tapping into a seemingly unlimited energy source. Of course, it helps he’s so young.

“I think that’s just being mentally prepared,” Gonzalez said of the extended playing time. “Really physical, too, but mentally prepared of like, you’re playing 24 minutes in a row and you just gotta try to be solid even though I’ve got some sequences that aren’t solid enough. Just try to make it solid and knowing that you got a responsibility that you haven’t had in the past year.”

The Celtics boast sneaky depth at wing between Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh, Josh Minott, Sam Hauser and Baylor Scheierman. Each of those guys have contributed in some fashion to start the season. It’s currently Gonzalez’s turn to show what he can provide the team.

It’s clear there are areas Gonzalez still need to improve, but his youth is already part of the equation. If he’s impacting the game like this already defensively as a rookie, it projects well for the future. Gonzalez initially looked like he could be the odd man out some nights to open the season, but when he’s playing like he did Monday, it’s impossible to keep him off the floor.

“We always talk about depth, and that we always have 12 or 13 guys that can be able to help us win games at any different moment,” Mazzulla said. “So I just thought it was a good opportunity to utilize the depth that we have, and you saw a game where depth comes in many different ways, and that’s it. At any point in time, everybody on our bench can impact winning.”