![\"Jayson](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2206580678-e1743711995863.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto by Rio Giancarlo\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics<\/p>\n
It is that time of year again for Jayson Tatum<\/a> and the Boston Celtics<\/a>. The NBA<\/a> playoffs are here.<\/p>\n On Sunday, the Celtics will welcome the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> to TD Garden to launch another installment of this classic postseason rivalry. Boston and Philadelphia have seen plenty of each other over the several decades.<\/p>\n Although this rivalry has been a more one-sided one since the early 1980s, a series between these two teams has never lacked punch or drama.<\/p>\n GettyBOSTON, MA \u2013 OCTOBER 22: Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics goes to the basket while guarded by VJ Edgecombe<\/a> #77 of the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Adam Glanzman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Of course, some of the shine has been delustered after Sixers star Joel Embiid<\/a> sustained an emergency appendectomy last week. Embiid, 32, is ruled out indefinitely.<\/p>\n That leaves a still well-rounded Philadelphia team captained by stars Tyrese Maxey<\/a> and Paul George<\/a>. Both players will go head on with Boston\u2019s Jays \u2014 Tatum and NBA MVP candidate Jaylen Brown<\/a> \u2014 as we wait to see which duo has the better series.\u00a0<\/p>\n Celtics See All Positives With Jayson Tatum Heading into Philly Series<\/p>\n What an unpredictable year the Celtics just had, huh?\u00a0<\/p>\n Projected to win fewer than 45 games this season, Boston rolled to the second-best record in a top-heavy Eastern Conference. Had it not been for the incredible rise of the Detroit Pistons<\/a>, the Celtics may have very well snatched the top spot.<\/p>\n Not only did the C\u2019s widely exceed expectations, so did Tatum.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tatum, 28, suffered a torn Achilles tendon during last year\u2019s second round series vs the New York Knicks<\/a>. With the Celtics already facing a daunting series deficit, they received a final blow the moment Tatum tumbled to the Madison Square Garden parquet near mid court. For the Boston star, it was the beginning of a vexing rehab that would cost him at least the entire 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n Or so everyone thought.<\/p>\n In March, Tatum made history by returning from Achilles surgery just 10 months after incurring the injury. At least in the modern NBA, perhaps nothing has come close to being as miraculous.\u00a0<\/p>\n The miracles haven\u2019t stopped there.\u00a0<\/p>\n Less than two months into his comeback, Tatum says he feels good<\/a> to go as Boston begins its journey back to the championship round.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m ready, it\u2019s part of the progression,\u201d Tatum said, according to Celtics Blog. \u201cI started on a minute restriction and every couple of games it would go up as we geared up for the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n Few injuries are as intimidating as a ruptured Achilles tendon. It would be natural for Tatum to have some trepidation about playing in the playoffs again after what happened last May. But he\u2019s not worried about the past any longer.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited,\u201d Tatum said on how he feels entering Sunday\u2019s Game 1. \u201cMy perspective has changed these last 48 weeks. When I got injured, there was a lot of uncertainty. The playoffs were not a sure thing. You know, now that I get that opportunity [to play in the playoffs again], I couldn\u2019t be more happy.\u201d<\/p>\n Time to Right the Wrong of Last Year<\/p>\n Few will argue against Tatum needing to be his best if the Celtics hope to advance further.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even before Tatum went down last year, the Celtics were being handled by the rival Knicks. Surely, Boston still has a sour taste from that performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tatum will need to continue making strong progress to help his team capture its goal. Of course, it is perhaps asking way too much of him to deliver in the high intensity of the playoffs coming off a brutal injury, but Tatum has shown many times in the past why he is a top player in the NBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since returning from injury, Tatum has improved his shooting efficiency and has visibly looked more comfortable. The postseason is obviously a different animal. The 28-year-old Boston star will see multiple tests in the coming weeks, but it\u2019s not like he hasn\u2019t passed many in the past anyway.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdel Ahmad<\/a> Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad<\/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":"Photo by Rio Giancarlo\/Getty Images Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics It is that time of year again for Jayson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-713155","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\/116425604673532658","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713155","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=713155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776513637_921_GettyImages-2242353093.jpg\")
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