As expected, the Boston Celtics crushed the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, rolling to a 120-99 rout at TD Garden.
While Jaylen Brown led the Celtics in scoring with 32 points, Jayson Tatum had arguably his best game since returning from his Achilles injury earlier this month. He recorded his third double-double in six games with 24 points and 10 rebounds while notching season highs in field goal percentage (.467) and made 3-pointers (five).
Meanwhile, former Celtics star Kristaps Porzingis struggled in his return to TD Garden, scoring just 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting.
Porzingis is familiar with coming back from injuries and knows how hard it is, so he was impressed by how good Tatum looked on Wednesday.
Kristaps Porzingis on how Jayson Tatum looked:
“He looks good, honestly. His shot was falling already. Looks like he’s not rusty at all. Just looked a little heavy, that’s all. He needs to lose a couple pounds and he’ll be flying again.”
-@CLNSMedia | Q: @RealBobManning pic.twitter.com/zRvaKv8SNh
— Celtics on CLNS (@CelticsCLNS) March 19, 2026
"He looks good, honestly. His shot was falling already. Looks like he’s not rusty at all," Porzingis told reporters after the game. "Just looked a little heavy, that’s all. He needs to lose a couple pounds and he’ll be flying again."
Tatum does look a bit bigger since he did before the injury, but that's to be expected after such a lengthy layoff.
While his shot has been a bit rusty, the six-time All-Star has mostly looked like himself since returning to action, averaging 20.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 29.3 minutes per game.
Fortunately for Tatum, he still has a few more weeks to shed some of that extra weight before the playoffs start.
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