Celtics star makes frank admission after Cavaliers win

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Celtics star makes frank admission after Cavaliers win

Brian Robb · MassLive

Mon, Mar 9, 2026 ·

4 min read

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CLEVELAND — Jayson Tatum looked a lot like his old self in the first quarter of the Celtics ’ matchup against the Cavaliers Sunday. The All-Star erupted for 12 points in the first quarter just 48 hours after he made an emotional season debut at TD Garden.

“Today felt a lot more normal just from a preparation standpoint and mentally,” Tatum said. “It just kind of felt like getting back in the flow of things. And that felt good for me.”

Tatum hit the 28-minute mark for the second straight game, finishing with 20 points in the 109-98 victory. The veteran forward missed six straight shots at one point of the game but came make two big baskets in the fourth quarter to help put the game away. With two straight comfortable wins for Boston since he returned to the court, Tatum has been encouraged by the early returns as he joins the team so late in the year.

“It’s been seamless, I would say,” Tatum said. “I’ve got such a great connection with most of the group. I’ve played with most of these guys for a long time. A bunch of high-IQ players.”

Despite the success, Jaylen Brown cautions that it won’t always look this easy for Boston as the team adapts to having Tatum back in the fold.

“I mean it’s gonna take some time,” Brown said. “This stretch, the next two opponents will give us some more information, but I think just everybody is just having a patience that it’s gonna take some time to build chemistry, to build a flow. It seems seamless for now, but that’s usually not how things go.

“Obviously we got JT. JT is a great player, smart, intelligent basketball. He can integrate, but it’s an adjustment phase, so I think we’re all gonna be learning. This trip give us some good information, but if it doesn’t go as how we expected, I don’t want anybody to panic. I know I’m talking to Celtics fans, but we’re still figuring it out.”

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The team is playing a little bit different from past seasons under Joe Mazzulla and how well Tatum handles that as he builds up his conditioning is something Brown is keeping an eye on.

“We’re kind of all seeing like where he’s at physically, and I think that’s important,” Brown said. “It’s great to have him back out there just from a mental standpoint. It’s just great for the organization, it’s great for the fans like just to have Jason Tatum back in playing basketball in the NBA.

“The identity is shifting a little bit, but we’re kind of evaluating and kind of seeing where things are and we all are feeling that rhythm out. It is different.I guess we just gotta kind of wait and see a little bit, be a little patient, have some grace for one another. If we don’t figure it out right away, we have the patience to handle the adversity until we find a solution that works. We’re finding a rhythm and we just got to keep it up.”

The challenge continues on Tuesday night for the new-look Celtics as they take on a Spurs team that has been the hottest team in the NBA over the last few weeks.

“They’re one of the better teams in the league and definitely a team to watch going forward in the playoffs,” Brown said. ‘They’ve earned their respect in this league and they’re continuing to get better, so it should be a good matchup coming up this week.”

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