We’re two games into the comeback for Jayson Tatum, and so far, it’s hard to argue that things could be going much better. Knowing that he’s coming off one of the most devastating injuries in sports, it was fair to expect Tatum, returning after just under 10 months off, would show some rust, some nerves, and that it would take a while for him to look like himself and fully trust his body.
A lot of time has been spent breaking down his attacks, his pivots, his plants, and his jumps. It’s hard to tell what percentage of his old athleticism is there currently, but to the naked eye, he mostly looks like Jayson Tatum.
Still, as quickly as things are coming along, there’s going to be an adjustment period. We expected that he would be able to come in, set screens, hit spot-up jump shots, and be a huge presence on the glass.
Tatum's defense looks extremely encouraging
But something that we thought may take a while to come back was Tatum’s athleticism, including his lateral quickness and burst, which could easily limit his ability to guard players one-on-one, and to be the same kind of elite defensive presence that he was prior to the injury.
Tatum looked fine, but not great on that end in his first game. On Sunday against the Cavaliers, JT looked completely locked in on the defensive end. He held up in switches, sticking with the likes of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, staying with them stride for stride.
Jayson Tatum didn’t lose a step on defense clamps on Donovan Mitchell 🔒 pic.twitter.com/j59HZBudm2
— CELTICS ☘️ BANNER 19 (@BiggLynch) March 8, 2026
He was up for the challenge of banging with Evan Mobley down low, while also walling off those elite perimeter creators. There were multiple possessions where Tatum was able to pinch off his man just enough to prevent a mismatch, and was still able to recover back to his man for a good contest, or to prevent a shot altogether.
This was such an important defensive read by Jayson Tatum that prevented Cleveland from cutting it to 6 with just over a minute left.
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) March 9, 2026
Stayed at the rim to help Queta on the drive, then rushed to the corner on the kick-out to contest Harden, forcing the airball. pic.twitter.com/jXVqg4Q2FL
I was more than happy with everything I saw from Tatum on the offensive end and the wya he dominated the boards on Friday night, but to see him lock in and guard like this in only his second game back was incredible.
Celtics have no defenders to pick on
The Cavaliers have been a top-five offense in the NBA this season, but they looked completely lost on Sunday against the Celtics for most of the game, finishing with just 98 points. Tatum wasn’t the most important reason why, but he was a huge part of Boston’s defense, and not a liability in the slightest. The Cs have now held their opponent to 100 points or fewer in 12 of their last 19 games, and it seems they've just added another elite, versatile, 6'10" defender.
Cleveland wanted to win this game badly, viewing it as a type of measuring stick. They didn’t take it easy on JT at all and tried to target him and attack him on multiple occasions to really test him, and Tatum was more than up to the challenge.
The offensive stuff is certainly a great sign and a great addition to this Celtics team, but the fact that he can already give this kind of performance on the defensive end should be truly scary for the rest of the league.