Boston beat Charlotte 114-99<\/a>\u00a0in what was perhaps his best game since returning to action in a\u00a0120-100 win over Dallas\u00a0on March 6.<\/p>\nIt wasn\u2019t just the shot that served as a reminder of how dominant Tatum can be as a player.<\/p>\n
He made turn-around jumpers off one foot, beat opponents to the basket on drives, had a rousing two-hand dunk and set up teammates with open looks after drawing double teams, all the while playing with patience and poise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t feel like I was sped up,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cI was still was kind of tired, so that\u2019s something I\u2019m still working through. But I like that I\u2019m being decisive in my movements and exploding when I need to (and) reacting. Obviously it helps when you make shots. I can say I feel better than I did last game. Hopefully I feel better in the next game than I did today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tatum became the youngest player in Celtics history to reach 14,000 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate enough to be on some really good teams, be surrounded by some really good players and coaches on the staff that have empowered me and helped me become the player I am today,\u201d Tatum said.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s happier just to be playing basketball again at a high level after a grueling rehabilitation process. The Celtics are happy, too. They are 9-2 since he\u2019s returned to the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had to work my (tail) off just to run up and down the floor,\u201d Tatum said.<\/p>\n
Celtics guard Payton Pritchard, who had 28 points in the win, said Tatum\u2019s outing was \u201cencouraging\u201d as the Eastern Conference\u2019s second-best team prepares to make a run at an NBA championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just very efficient in his movements and got to his spots,\u201d Pritchard said. \u201cHe looked like a killer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celtics forward Jayson Tatum prepares to take a shot over Hornets forward Hornets forward Miles Bridges during Boston’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-554715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP26089013922891.jpg\")
\t\t\tCeltics forward Jayson Tatum prepares to take a shot over Hornets forward Hornets forward Miles Bridges during Boston’s 114-99 win on Sunday in Charlotte, N.C. (Nell Redmond\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n