Celtics Notes: Tatum, Brown, Walsh, Harper

Celtics fans welcomed back Jayson Tatum with a thunderous ovation Friday night, but it took a while for him to look like the player they remembered, writes Jamal Collier of ESPN. Tatum missed his first six shots from the field before scoring his first points of the season on a putback dunk shortly before halftime. That helped him settle down as he connected on six of his next 10 attempts and finished the night with 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in 27 minutes.

“I really was just kind of grateful,” Tatum said. “I had a real sense of gratitude of just being back on the floor, playing basketball. It just kind of brought me back to everything I’ve been through in the last 10 months. And the fact that I was able to even be out there today was a really big win for me.”

Tatum admits he still has “a long way to go” to get back to his elite status, but he was happy with his performance in the first game since tearing his right Achilles roughly 10 months ago. He told reporters that there’s no set plan to manage his playing time and didn’t give any indication of his status for Sunday afternoon’s game in Cleveland.

He also congratulated his teammates and Celtics management for remaining competitive in what many expected to be a gap year. Several key members of last season’s roster were sacrificed in cost-cutting moves, but Boston holds the league’s fourth-best record at 42-21.

“The start of last playoffs, we felt like we had a three-, four-, five-year run with that team,” Tatum said. “It all changed in the moment with that team. … I didn’t know what was next. … Can’t commend the group enough and the coaching staff of how they attacked the season, how they competed and just played together every single night. I don’t know if there’s been a team that’s more fun to watch this season play.”

There’s more on the Celtics:

• On the day before his return, Tatum spoke at a team meeting to express his gratitude to players, coaches and staff members for their help with his recovery, according to Jay King of The Athletic. King notes that Tatum has been a constant presence at practices and games while going through the rehab process. “It was nice for him to get up there and talk,” Derrick White said. “And for him to kind of get his voice back into the team. Because he’s been around, but he hasn’t had that type of voice.”
• During Tatum’s absence, Jaylen Brown took over as the Celtics’ number one scoring option and posted career-best numbers that put him in the MVP conversation. He talked Friday about the adjustments that will have to be made now that Tatum is back on the court, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (subscription required). “It’s going to be a great challenge for me,” Brown said. “It’s going to be a great challenge for all of us. It’s going to test all of our patience. It’s going to test our humility. All of the above. We’ve just got to be prepared for there to be some ups and downs. I’m prepared for that. How you handle adversity will be kind of a measure.”
• If coach Joe Mazzulla sticks with a nine- or 10-man rotation, Jordan Walsh and Ron Harper Jr. are the players most likely to have their minutes impacted by Tatum’s return, Brian Robb of Mass Live states in a mailbag column.