Though he doesn’t yet resemble the player who made first-team All-NBA in each of the last four seasons, Jayson Tatum has performed above expectations since returning from Achilles surgery earlier this month.

That was Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla’s latest review of his newly healthy superstar, who has appeared in eight games for Boston since making his delayed season debut on March 6.

“There was no expectation other than continuing to get better, continuing to execute, continuing to grow as a player and be in position to help us win, and be the best version of himself and continue to stay and further get healthy,” Mazzulla said Tuesday. “Those were the expectations, and I think he’s exceeded those. And I think he’s continuing to get better, and that’s the most important thing. As we continue to just adjust and learn and grow, he’ll continue to get better there.

“But love the mindset that he’s approached with on the games. I love the physicality that he’s playing with. I like the attention to detail, and he’s helping us impact winning, and we’ve got to keep that up.”

Tatum, who missed nearly 10 months with the injury he suffered last May, has posted encouraging numbers thus far, averaging 19.1 points and 8.9 rebounds while playing on a minutes restriction. He’s been productive as a rebounder and solid defensively, though his offensive game has been hamstrung by poor shooting and prolonged cold spells.

In his small sample, Tatum’s 38.8% field-goal percentage, 29.5% 3-point percentage and 50.7% true shooting percentage all would be the lowest marks of his career.

After going scoreless in the first half of Sunday’s home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tatum admitted his shooting struggles have been “frustrating,” even as he acknowledged that his ramp-up was “obviously going to take some time.” Teammate Derrick White understood his consternation.

“You want to come back and instantly get back to yourself, but that’s not how the game works,” White said. “I just think he’s just doing a good job of just every day, being consistent. I think it’s the same thing with his rehab and his recovery. There’s good days and bad days in this game, and you’ve just got to continue to try to figure out different ways to figure it out.”

Mazzulla said he “absolutely” likes Tatum’s shot selection so far, saying his early inaccuracy isn’t the result of bad decision-making.

“I mean, I like the shots that he’s getting, I like the shots that he’s taking, I like the way that he’s driving the basketball with physicality,” the coach said. “And again, you can always find your players better shots. I can always find our players easier, better shots. But the ones that he’s getting are good, and we continue to work on that.”

Despite the frustrations, Mazzulla said Tatum has approached his reintegration with the right mindset. The Celtics are 6-2 this season with Tatum in the lineup.

“I mean, even if he was 100% healthy, you’d still be frustrated if you weren’t your best self,” Mazzulla said. “That happens even if you have a bad game when you are the best version of yourself. So I think at the end of the day, when we’re between those lines, there’s no grace. There are the things you have to do. When you step out of those lines, here’s the stuff you’re doing well, here’s the stuff we have to get better and here’s the stuff that’s going to come with time. And you just keep it to that.

“He does a really good job of processing that, and we just have to go from there.”

Tatum’s next challenge will come Wednesday night when he faces the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder for the first time this season. He and White both sat out Boston’s game in OKC on March 12 — the only contest Tatum missed since his return — and the Celtics nearly won without them, losing 104-102 on a pair of Chet Holmgren free throws in the final 10 seconds.

At 57-15, the Thunder boast the NBA’s best record and best net rating. The 47-24 Celtics own the fourth-best record and rank third in net rating, but they’re fighting to hold off the Knicks in the race for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. New York entered Tuesday just a half-game back in third place.

“They’re the champs, and they’re playing really, really well,” White said of OKC. “These are the games that you kind of look forward to. Win, loss, it really doesn’t matter in a week, but you want to go out there, you want to compete, you want to continue to improve on things that we’ve been working on. So obviously, it’s a big game. I wouldn’t say it’s not a big game. But win, loss, it’s just one game, and we’ve just got to go out there and see how we can be better than we were when we played last.”