{"id":189202,"date":"2026-04-08T04:54:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189202\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T04:54:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:54:06","slug":"celtics-jayson-tatum-reluctantly-preparing-for-1st-trip-to-new-york-since-achilles-injury-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189202\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics\u2019 Jayson Tatum reluctantly preparing for 1st trip to New York since Achilles injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BOSTON (AP) \u2014 Jayson Tatum knew it would happen eventually. It still won\u2019t make his return to Madison Square Garden\u2026<\/p>\n<p>BOSTON (AP) \u2014 Jayson Tatum knew it would happen eventually. It still won\u2019t make his return to Madison Square Garden for Thursday\u2019s matchup with the New York Knicks any easier for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNah, not really,\u201d Tatum said Tuesday following Boston\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/hornets-celtics-score-4987bd8ccd06bb3c1b1fced24c40a5df\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">win over Charlotte<\/a>. \u201cI 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.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The experience, of course, was when he was <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/celtics-jayson-tatum-injury-6b5f65d15668d8c4496dc4d04828c393\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">carried off the floor<\/a> with a ruptured right Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the Celtics\u2019 Eastern Conference semifinals loss to the Knicks last season. It ended the six-time All-Star\u2019s season, and following surgery the next day thrust him into a nearly 10-month rehab. <\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously, at some point I knew I would have to get over that hurdle and play there again. So, it\u2019s going to have to be this Thursday,\u201d Tatum said. <\/p>\n<p>Teammate Jaylen Brown said he thinks Tatum is in a good place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he\u2019s trending in the right direction,\u201d Brown said. \u201cMentally, it could possibly be something. But that\u2019s what the teammates are there for. We got his back.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Coach Joe Mazzulla said the way Tatum has worked his way back into condition both physically and mentally are a testament to everything he\u2019s done since being helped off the court in New York last May.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the entire process leading up from Day 1 with the surgery put him in position to be able to do that,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cJust how he approached the entire journey and the people he had around him kind of put him in position. I think where he\u2019s at now, it all goes together. How do you approach that day? How do you approach recovery? How he\u2019s approached every step of the way that he\u2019s taken. He did it with a lot of hard work and diligence. \u2026 That kind of set him up to be where he is now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And like it or not, it\u2019s brought him to perhaps the most important step in him feeling mentally back \u2014 returning to the site of the worst day of his basketball career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s part of it,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cI decided to come back and play and I\u2019m not necessarily, like, skipping certain games. I mean, I can\u2019t play back-to-backs right now. But, I decided to come back and play, so it\u2019s another game on the schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP NBA: <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright<br \/>\n                        \u00a9\u00a02026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON (AP) \u2014 Jayson Tatum knew it would happen eventually. It still won\u2019t make his return to Madison&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-189202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}