Even though he returned to play from his Achilles tendon injury at the end of last season, there have been concerns about the health of star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum given he ended that campaign on the bench, unable to play in Boston's final playoff game of 2026 postseason.
But St. Louis native helped allay some of those concerns in the Celtics' 144-106 demolition of the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden Saturday (Oct. 10) night. Tatum put up an efficient 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla spoke to how that outing sets the stage to put those concerns behind Tatum, saying that "tonight ... I thought he had good carryover from what we're asking him to do on both ends of the floor."
"His defensive activity
was good," he added. "I thought offensively he had great flow, the ball found him, but he was able to create opportunities for him and his teammates."
"And so I thought to carry over from what our expectation is for him on both sides of the ball is one step of doing it there and continue to get better and better from it," said the Celtics coach. "But I thought his cardio looked good. His decision making looked good. His activity was good."
And when he was on the floor during the competitive portion of the exhibition tilt, so did Tatum's play – not that we need to tell you as much.
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Joe Mazzulla on what Jayson Tatum showed us in Celtics' preseason Sixers blowout
