BOSTON — Jayson Tatum knew it would happen eventually. It still won't make his return to Madison Square Garden for Thursday's matchup with the New York Knicks any easier for him.
"Nah, not really," Tatum said Tuesday following Boston's win over Charlotte. "I mean, yeah, I thought about it. Not, like, thrilled to go back and play there. Last time I played there, obviously, it was a traumatic experience for me."
The experience, of course, was when he was carried off the floor with a ruptured right Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the Celtics' Eastern Conference semifinals loss to the Knicks last season. It ended the six-time All-Star's season, and following surgery the next day thrust him into a nearly 10-month rehab.
It ended on March 6 with his season debut and a 15-game stretch since then that has him averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds with the playoffs upcoming. But being back in New York for the first time since his injury still will come with some trepidation, he acknowledged.
“Obviously, at some point I knew I would have to get over that hurdle and play there again. So, it's going to have to be this Thursday," Tatum said.
Teammate Jaylen Brown said he thinks Tatum is in a good place.
“I think he's trending in the right direction,” Brown said. “Mentally, it could possibly be something. But that's what the teammates are there for. We got his back."
Coach Joe Mazzulla said the way Tatum has worked his way back into condition both physically and mentally are a testament to everything he's done since being helped off the court in New York last May.
“I think the entire process leading up from Day 1 with the surgery put him in position to be able to do that,” Mazzulla said. “Just how he approached the entire journey and the people he had around him kind of put him in position. I think where he's at now, it all goes together. How do you approach that day? How do you approach recovery? How he's approached every step of the way that he's taken. He did it with a lot of hard work and diligence. ... That kind of set him up to be where he is now."
And like it or not, it's brought him to perhaps the most important step in him feeling mentally back — returning to the site of the worst day of his basketball career.
“It's part of it,” Tatum said. "I decided to come back and play and I'm not necessarily, like, skipping certain games. I mean, I can't play back-to-backs right now. But, I decided to come back and play, so it's another game on the schedule.”
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