![\"Jayson](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775720952_110_GettyImages-2269126866_a2110e-e1774948333534.jpg\")
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Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics<\/p>\n
As Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum continues to thrive<\/a> after being sidelined for 10 months with an Achilles injury, Anthony Davis is in both shock and awe.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way JT has come back. I didn\u2019t expect it,\u201d Davis told \u201cThe Draymond Green Show\u201d<\/a> while picking the Celtics as his favorites to win the East and reach the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way he\u2019s come back, it\u2019s like he never missed a beat,\u201d Davis continued. \u201cAnd he came back early? Bro, that\u2019s not supposed to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to put Boston in there [as a title contender] because of what JB [Jaylen Brown] is doing. I think Joe Mazzulla has these guys playing extremely well.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they figured it out \u2014 there were concerns about how JT and JB would co-exist if JT comes back, since it\u2019s been JB\u2019s team all year,\u201d added Davis.<\/p>\n Jayson Tatum Thrives<\/p>\n Tatum has averaged 21.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 15 games since his return against the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> last month. Over his last five games, he has tallied 25.2 points, 10.4 rebounds and 7.8 assists on super-efficient 49\/41\/77 shooting splits.<\/p>\n As he finds his footing, Tatum is confident he\u2019ll return to his pre-injury self.<\/p>\n \u201cJust ramping up at the right time,\u201d Tatum said after Tuesday\u2019s win over the Charlotte Hornets, via ESPN\u2019s Tim Bontemps.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cKnowing that post All-Star break is pivotal for teams really trying to compete for a championship. And you want to be physically feeling your best as a unit, playing well together, clicking on all cylinders. And this year is no different.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been playing extremely well going into the playoffs up to this point and knowing that we\u2019ve got a few games left to feel really good about ourselves and then find out who we\u2019re going to play.\u201d<\/p>\n Jayson Tatum Returns to MSG<\/p>\n The six-time All-Star will return to Madison Square Garden on Thursday, the same arena where he suffered an Achilles tear in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n Tatum is excited about the return.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, yeah, I\u2019ve thought about it,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cI\u2019m not like, thrilled, to go back and play there. Last time I played there, obviously, it was a traumatic experience for me.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, I knew at some point I would have to get over that hurdle and play there again. So, it\u2019s going to have to be this Thursday. But it\u2019s not like I\u2019m thrilled about it. But it\u2019s part of it. I decided to come back and play, so I\u2019m not necessarily skipping certain games. I can\u2019t play back-to-backs right now, but I decided to come back and play, so it\u2019s just another game on the schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n A win will secure the second seed for the Celtics (54-25), while the Knicks (51-28) and the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> (51-29) stay locked in a battle for third and fourth.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Celtics\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics As Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum continues to thrive after being sidelined for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-706454","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116373656717205075","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}