Before Jayson Tatum made his season debut early last month, some high-profile analysts wondered whether the Boston Celtics would have problems figuring out their team hierarchy with him back on the court. Even Tatum acknowledged having doubts about how he would fit into a team that had discovered a successful formula without him.
In less than a month, the Celtics have quieted those concerns by going 10-2 in Tatum’s first 12 games.
Instead of breaking their rhythm, he has added more ways for them to achieve it. On Wednesday, he recorded his first triple-double since returning from a torn Achilles early last month while Jaylen Brown reached the 40-point mark for the seventh time this season.
Tatum’s 25 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists helped the Celtics roll the Miami Heat 147-129. He finished one rebound shy of a career high.
“To me, it just goes back to (how) success can look different every night,” Joe Mazzulla told reporters in Miami. “I think it’s interesting, at the beginning of the game, he came out at the seven-minute mark, the game hadn’t found him yet. And then, he goes back in and he has five (points), five (rebounds) and three (assists). So, he just did a great job rebounding and drawing 2-on-1s there, and then the game kind of started to find him.”
The Celtics built a big lead early while setting a franchise record for highest-scoring first quarter with 53 points. They shot 20 of 28 from the field during the quarter, including 11 of 15 on 3-point attempts. Sam Hauser (23 points) scored 17 points on perfect 6-of-6 shooting while making five 3-pointers in the quarter. Brown led Boston with 20 first-quarter points on 8-of-11 shooting. He scored 11 of his team-high 43 points over the first 2:07 of the game.
Brown finished 17 of 29 from the field. He added seven assists and three rebounds while draining four of his 10 3-point attempts.
The Celtics entered halftime with 80 points after Derrick White found Brown for an alley-oop on their final possession of the second quarter. White then capped the half with an incredible hustle play to force a Pelle Larsson miss at the rim on the other end of the court.
The Heat sank 11 3-pointers during the third quarter to pull within 10, but Tatum piled up 6 points and two assists over the opening 3:12 of the fourth quarter to fend off the Miami surge. His triple-double was the fifth of his career in the regular season.
“So, it’s going after the game, going to make things happen, which I think he has done a great job of since he’s been back,” Mazzulla said. “And then, the game found him, and he took advantage of those opportunities. So, it’s going to look different every night, and tonight it was just a well-balanced attack by him on both ends of the floor.”
The Celtics reached the 140-point mark for the fifth time this season but fell one point shy of their season high, which they set while beating the Brooklyn Nets 148-111 on Feb. 27.
Though Tatum struggled with his shooting early in his return, he has found ways to make his usual all-around impact. He won the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award after averaging 25.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game last week. The Celtics have now won seven of Tatum’s 12 games played by double digits.
Now, Tatum can add a triple-double to his list of impressive feats since returning from a torn Achilles.