{"id":1871468,"date":"2026-04-08T04:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T01:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1871468"},"modified":"2026-04-08T04:00:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T01:00:37","slug":"celtics-jayson-tatum-on-post-achilles-return-to-msg-might-as-well-get-it-out-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1871468","title":{"rendered":"Celtics\u2019 Jayson Tatum on post-Achilles return to MSG: \u2018Might as well get it out the way\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BOSTON \u2014 Celtics star Jayson Tatum will return to Madison Square Garden this week. After tearing his Achilles tendon there during last season\u2019s playoffs, he said he is \u201cnot really\u201d looking forward to stepping into the building again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve thought about it,\u201d Tatum said Tuesday night after scoring 23 points in a 113-102 win against the Charlotte Hornets. \u201cI\u2019m not, like, thrilled to go back and play there. Last time I played there, obviously, it was a traumatic experience for me. Obviously, I knew at some point I would have to get over that hurdle and play there again. So, it\u2019s gonna have to be this Thursday, but it\u2019s not like I\u2019m thrilled about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tatum, who has not been playing in both legs of back-to-backs, confirmed he intends to play in New York before the Celtics host the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. That means he will suit up in the Knicks\u2019 arena for the first time since his injury. And he could be playing there more often soon. If the current standings hold, the Celtics and Knicks would be lined up for a potential second-round matchup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going to have to play here at some point,\u201d Tatum said, \u201cso I might as well get it out the way now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tatum has been open about the difficult emotions he dealt with after tearing his Achilles tendon in May and throughout his rehabilitation process. Based on his comments, returning to Madison Square Garden will represent another mental step for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s part of it,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cI 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

The Celtics have won most of their games recently, capturing 13 of their 15 matchups with Tatum in the lineup since his return. They trailed 87-80 late in the third quarter Tuesday before finding another gear to roll past the Hornets.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust ramping up at the right time,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cKnowing that the 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. We\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

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If Tatum feels any extra emotions in New York, Jaylen Brown said his teammates will be there to support him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like JT is in a good spot,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHe\u2019s playing good basketball. He\u2019s rebounding the ball. He\u2019s handling those physical drives. Looks more explosive than those first couple of games, so I think he\u2019s trending in the right direction. I don\u2019t know if mentally there possibly could be something, but that\u2019s what teammates are there for. We\u2019ve got his back, so we\u2019ll go out there and do what we got to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 Celtics star Jayson Tatum will return to Madison Square Garden this week. After tearing his Achilles tendon there during last season\u2019s playoffs, he said he is \u201cnot really\u201d looking forward to stepping into the building again. \u201cI\u2019ve thought about it,\u201d Tatum said Tuesday night after scoring 23 points in a 113-102 win against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1871468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1871468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1871468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1871468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1871468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1871468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1871468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}