When we played them a month ago, I was just blown away by how good they were. Every team has a different set of circumstances. The Celtics sure aren't used to being an afterthought and they kind of were before the season with Jayson's injury and the departures of Kristaps and Al Horford.
The Celtics were fairly clear about their strategy in defending the Spurs superstar: Give up threes rather than twos and hope he can't shoot you out of the game. The strategy makes some sense - Wembanyama is solid, but he's only making 35 percent of his 3-point attempts this year. Joe Mazzulla loves to try to manipulate the math in his favor, and when part of the equation is a 7-foot-4 center that can do a little bit of everything offensively, the numbers become more difficult to square.
Nearly 10 months removed from a bleak night in New York when the Celtics lost both Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals and their superstar to a torn Achilles, Jayson Tatum returned to action on Friday, and his return - which overshadowed an impressive 120-100 victory by the Celtics over the Mavericks - was everything the team could have hoped.
At the end of the day, you saw a guy in his most vulnerable state and you're seeing that journey back. That journey may start today, but there's no endgame to that, it may be a long time. I think along the way you have to have a sense of gratitude and a sense of perspective.
