Tatum Return Has Boston Buzzing for Post-Season Push

It seems almost a certainty that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will retain his regular-season MVP status after another fine campaign for the Thunder. The Oklahoma City man would love to defend his NBA Finals MVP crown, too, no doubt, but may just find himself facing stiff competition from a fit-again Jayson Tatum.The 28-year-old has missed the best part of six months of action with a torn Achilles. But he’s now back on court and slowly going through the gears in a bid to be fully firing for the post-season campaign.

If he is, Boston may just be the favorites to go on and clinch their second NBA championship in the space of just three seasons.

Forward Motion

Those betting on sports online can still avail themselves of odds of 11/2 on the Celtics to win the NBA Finals; that’s the same price as the Spurs, but considerably behind Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder (11/10).

It’s easy enough to make a case for Oklahoma City, given that they are tracking as the best team in the NBA during the regular season. But the history books confirm that successfully defending your championship is no easy task – only the Warriors have managed to pull it off in the past decade. And Boston may just have a trump card in Tatum, who will enter the play-offs without the accumulated fatigue that can bedevil some players after a long, hard campaign.

The Celtics’ 111-100 victory over Washington was the 28-year-old’s launchpad, as he led the way for Boston in both rebounds and assists, suggesting that there’s no long-term damage from the type of injury that has ended careers before. Tatum will be very keen to rekindle his on-court kinship with Jaylen Brown, who at times has evidently missed his star teammate, despite a strong run of form at the start of the year which saw him named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Month for January.

With Derrick White flourishing on defense once more and seven-footer Neemias Queta making a successful transition to regular starter, head coach Joe Mazzulla has stacks of options at his disposal. But boy, will he be glad to have his kingpin Tatum back amongst his starters. And that may well yet carry the Celtics to glory in 2026.

Friendly Rivalry

They would never mention as much publicly, but you wonder if Tatum and Brown still think about the 2024 Finals and the battle to be crowned MVP. You may recall that Brown got the nod, despite Tatum recording more points per game, more rebounds, and more assists during the championship matches. Although delighted for his colleague, being overlooked would have hurt Tatum – something that may well spur him on to this day. Reflecting on the moment on the Morris Code podcast back in December, Tatum revealed there was ‘no animosity’ between him and Brown over the perceived snub.

“I was just so excited in that moment that we won a championship,” the 28-year-old recalled. “I can be 100% honest, I wasn’t upset.”

He even went on to discuss his dynamic with Brown, speaking in a complimentary fashion – albeit not without some reservation. “We just had to accept, like, we need each other,” Tatum said, which sounds like the sort of thing squabbling family members might say to one another. Either way, Boston have two superstars on their roster… if they can co-exist, that’s no bad thing.