Jayson Tatum returns for Boston Celtics after 10 months out with torn achilles | Boston Celtics

There were times when Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum wasn’t sure he could return to the game that was abruptly taken from him last season.

It made every moment he experienced upon his return as special as any he has experienced thus far in his basketball career.

His return to TD Garden Friday night, a 120-100 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, marked his season debut nearly 10 months after surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon.

“I felt a real sense of gratitude,” Tatum said. “Just being back on the court and playing basketball again. It kind of brought me back to everything I’ve been through over the last 10 months, and being able to be here today was a really big win for me.”

It was also a reminder — to everyone — that the player who helped bring Boston an NBA championship in 2024, and who has five All-NBA selections and eight All-Star selections, will need time to fully become himself again.

Tatum had 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting, 12 rebounds and seven assists in 27 sometimes rusty minutes. He played in stretches of five and six minutes in his first game since being injured in Game 4 of Boston’s Eastern Conference semifinal loss to New York in May.

Tatum, who turned 28 this week, said his return to the court will be at home. He kept that promise.

He missed his first six shots, but also made five shots in a row at one point.

“Nights and days I dreamed of this moment,” Tatum said. “The anticipation. The crowd. It’s been 42 and a half weeks since I last played an NBA game. I was just trying to catch up on the speed and everything else. I felt like maybe I was behind or maybe too fast. But the game started to slow down once I started moving a little bit.”

Tatum missed his first shot of the night, missing a jumper behind the rim on Boston’s second trip down the court.

He would make his first contribution to the stat sheet on the Celtics’ next possession – an assist on an alley-oop to big man Neemias Queta.

Tatum made his second field goal attempt of the game – a 26-footer from the top of the key – before heading to the bench for his first rest.

At the end of the first quarter, Tatum briefly left the field with coach Nick Sang. But he returned to the bench in time to re-enter the lineup for the start of the second period.

Even with an uneven start, he continued to look for his teammates, adding another assist and actively selecting to initiate the offense.

“He came out the other side a better person, and I know a better player. That’s all you can ask for,” Celtics coach Mazzulla said.

Fans stood up in anticipation after Tatum got open and had a clean look at a dunk. He hung on the rim, however, an accident he laughed about a few minutes later as he ran off the court during a timeout.

His scoreless streak was finally snapped with 1:11 left before halftime when he slid in for a putback dunk on Payton Pritchard’s missed three-pointer. After a miss by Dallas, he followed up by scoring a corner three-pointer.

Several Mavericks players took a few moments during breaks in play to welcome Tatum’s return. They included Klay Thompson, who gave Tatum a hug before the start of the second quarter. Thompson tore his Achilles tendon in 2020 while recovering from a torn ACL in 2019.

Mazzulla said Tatum’s return has been in the works for weeks.

“Since day one, it’s been a constant conversation,” Mazzulla said. “Throughout the whole process, you trusted this journey. I give him credit. We always knew he would come back this year.”

Tatum, who had surgery on May 13, returned to court after 298 days.

The Celtics have 19 games left in the regular season, including 11 at TD Garden to try to prepare Tatum for what they hope will be a deep playoff run. Boston is second in the East.

“I don’t think any athlete thinks they’re ever going to bet that they’re going to be injured. At least I didn’t,” Tatum said. “When it happened, it hit me in the ass. It made me rethink a lot of things. I had an idea of ​​where my career was going, and overnight it changed. … The things I want to accomplish are still in front of me.

“I’m really quite happy to have gotten this far.”