[Highlight] Tatum smokes the dunk
I am choosing to focus on the blowby
Unironically though. The bounce will come back.
I feel like that may have been more mental than anything. It’s gotta be very stressful to jump off that leg in that context.
Yeah idk why he decided on an explosive play his first game back
idk I kinda get it. the issue is probably largely mental like the other commenter said so imagine the boost to your confidence and your mental you’d get from yamming it like that in your first game back. demons immediately exorcised.
I’ve definitely had moments like that before, not just in sports but just situations where it’s like “this probably won’t work but if it somehow does it’s basically gonna solve all my problems”
sends d!ck pick
i’m really glad you cencored that for my virgin eyes thanks
Just looking out for the nephews
You are censoring yourself wrong.
It’s penis photo.
Le coque sportiff
It’s a double edge sword for your mentality. Make it? Smoke it? It goes equally in the opposite direction. High risk high reward
Watching Kobe jump after he came back from the Achilles tear you could immediately tell he lost his lift, I don’t know if Tatum was ever that athletic even before the tear
It’s a double edge sword for your mentality. Make it? Smoke it? It goes equally in the opposite direction.
No way. If you’re really trying to win, you have to know what your body can do. Smoking it would suck but it’s valuable information
Remember Klay.
Such a good dunk. I went wild. First game back, no fear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8CYA80e3NU
That was my immediate thought. That moment carried the entire fanbases belief that we’re back. The contrast with Tatum is palpable.
Nah it’s the same lol, Tatum overall game yesterday has us extremely encouraged
Getting back on the horse typa stuff
Reminds of Klay’s return. One of the first plays he crosses up and drives in for a dunk. Made me say wtf Klay..
Either he feels like he can be explosive on the court or he absolutely should not be playing
Klay did the same on Klay Day agaisnt Cleveland though.
He jumped off his uninjured leg lol
He tore his right achilles. More likely that his lack of playing/training has reduced his bounce off his left leg.
Hell yeah. I damaged a ligament in my foot that took me out of action for a few months and when I came back I was so tentative for so much longer.
Running and jumping around full traffic is really scary when you have been through extreme pain and injuries.
The fat that he got a dunk later in the game like it was nothing was huge.
It’s stressful for me to jump period so I can relate
Even if it doesn’t this season, that’s still a layup once he gets used to it. That he’s still moving well laterally is a great sign IMO
I doubt he will ever get back to a true 100%, but if he can get close to it plus change his playstyle a bit I think he will be fine
It will? Achilles are a big deal for a reason
This is game #1 for him…
He didn’t even jump off the leg that had the injury here
The bounce will come back.
I think it will but it’s crazy to state it like it’s inevitable
i was bout to say the celtics dont really care how he shoot the fact he looks good is amazing
He is doing other stuff well, has 5 assists, couple boards, and has forced several misses from Flagg at the rim. Just can’t find the shot yet.
12 boards according to the box
1st 6 months after coming back he’s not going to have that same elevation. He’s gotta work himself back into game shape and then get back to his old ways. He’ll be fully recovered by the start of next season I’m sure. Expectations this season really shouldn’t be high for him
Pretty much this, and even 6 months is optimistic most of the time.
very explosive imo
The blow by is what counts. I’m glad he has confidence in his body. As a Sixers fan, I pray he stays healthy because those types of injuries are brutal.
Bro made up for it to the the half and in the 3rd. My hype knows no bounds
It’s a good sign that he was willing to try it
The fact that Tatum is back fairly early means anything now is a bonus!
Yes. Him having that ability is more important than making the dunk.
I mean, much as I’d love to hate, look at how fast that cross was lol, his first step is basically back already
Yeah but imagine how sick it would’ve been if it went in
Would have been sick
Reminds me of Klay when he came back
Klay in China
so sick!
Knicks fan here.
That would’ve been sick.
That’s what she said
Even as a Lakers fan, I would’ve been hyped for him if that went in.
Tatum lowlight posts? We’re so fucking back
So happy he’s back so I can go back to hating on him, hating on Shai just isn’t the same.
Tatum is actually fun to watch compared to Shai.
I might lose my Sixers card for this but it’s way easier to hate on Shai than Tatum.
Tatum is corny but other than that hasn’t really done anything that bad.
Shai is probably a good dude but my God it’s painful to sit through OKC games because of him
I think the word is frustrating to watch, SGA moves like water, its nice to watch, but God i hate that noise he makes everytime he drives.
It’s instinctual to hate Tatum, but it’s not always rational. Whereas you can easily justify hating Shai.
Shai is the only person in the league in even more corny ass commercials than Tatum, but somehow for like even worse products.
His sub doesn’t have bacon
Yeah literally the top post on the sub after a triumphant return lol.
A lot of sympathetic comments from other teams’ fans in the comments though, that won’t last long lol
Won’t be truly back until he gets a tech for clapping
Yeah he easily makes that if he was in game shape, I am sure it will come back but he definitely doesn’t have the same bounce atm
Dude was breathing hard two minutes into the game when I don’t think I’ve ever watched him actually breath hard or look gassed in a game before, will take some time for him to get back his conditioning.
Also nerves adds to fatigue
He got gassed quite a bit during the Covid years, he had to take an inhaler before and during games
Because of COVID?
Yeah Tatum was one of the worst affected in the league by long covid, at least from what we’ve heard.
He was using a puffer for months/years afterwards.
His counting stats didn’t really get affected, but there was a big drop in the advanced analytics for a while.
We can probably say Porzingas has it worse now
Because the Celtic was injury-plagued that season. He basically carried the Celtic into the playoffs.
He played soccer too? Damn, what a world class athlete.
Yeah my fault for missing the S
You good, I don’t even follow soccer, only reason I know about that team is I forgot an S once while googling lol
Good shout I forgot about that. Covid year he couldn’t breathe for shit when he was offball.
Long Covid fucks a person up for real
Yeah, I’m confident it’s just a conditioning (and potentially mental) thing that he’ll work through as he gets some more minutes.
Hope it works out for him. The league is better when the best players are healthy.
No matter what training you do it does not get you to 100%. Only reps at this point will move the needle. He’ll of a first game though
Lmao. Looked just like a Tatum drive pre-injury until the end so at least there’s that.
yeah its not that bad - just love to see him back
just happy to see him play again after what was dubbed to be a career ending injury decades ago
This should go well
The move was good tho.. just looks like a dude who hasn’t played high level ball in min on the finish
For sure but no one will gaf a few games from now when he gets his legs back under him and this is automatic again
A few games is generous. Players can take a while to be fully back from Achilles injuries
If ever
Dude got his fingers and toes crossed
confirmed role player
I’m sure everyone will be very reasonable about this
I always cheer for a player coming, hope Tatum gets his bounce back overtime.
Which leg was the Injury?
Right
It’s not looked like the injury so far as much as the fact that he’s clearly in his head
Probably just nerves
I mean he had a historically fast recovery.
When I sprinted in HS and college I was in my head the first few meets after recovering from a hammy strain.
I can only imagine he’s gonna be in his head about it for at least a month. He should definitely get some grace on that.
Fr I can’t imagine going back to game action after an injury like that. Would probably take so long to not think about your Achilles popping again every time you do basically anything on the court
Also pretty clearly exhausted after just a couple minutes of action
This is probably the longest break from playing in high level games he has had his entire life.
Hopefully it was just an adrenaline rush and not how far away from being in basketball shape he is.
Yeah this dunk is the last thing I’d be concerned about with him lol I’d say it’s a shock he’s even playing and he’s looking fine all things considered he’s actually looking great considering that injury and the timeline at which he’s back haha
I also imagine this is one of those things where you might be a little scared to come down hard on those legs right.
Which is why it’s good he has 20 games before the playoffs. Who cares if he’s not mentally there yet
Having a slightly weaker plant on the right leg could have affected the stride length on his way to the basket, and the forcefulness of the penultimate step there.
The other one
The one with the huge sleeve on it
He is gonna take a bit to get back that explosiveness. good on him for trying to yam it tho!
It’s honestly insane to me that he even attempted it in his first game back. I remember Gordon Hayward was (justifiably) playing scared for a while after his return
Playing scared (or with some self doubt) is almost certainly why he was unable to get up on that dunk. Totally normal part of the process, he’ll play through it and be fine.
He probably permanently lost some. Obviously he will imrpove from where hes at but likely will never be the same in raw athleticism.
We’ll see, I’ve learned to never bet against Tatum when it comes to his physical health.
Durant lost hops and speeds, hopefully Tatum age helps him
Everyone does. It’s an Achilles.
Didn’t Kobe as well after the Achilles?
Well Kobe lost everything. He rushed back at an older age and wasn’t close to the same player
Also things have changed in the decade plus since Kobe tore his.
Every player who sustained an Achilles has lost some level of athleticism. Durant is the gold standard, and literally 1 of 1 who came back as good in part bc his game wasn’t predicated of pure athleticism. That being said Tatum’s game isn’t all about raw athleticism, but he needs that lateral quickness. Also it would help if he were as long and as smooth a shooter as Durant.
Both kd and Kobe were over 30 when they got injured
yeah luckily for Tatum he’s only 19
Durant’s longevity is obviously incredible and only comes with a tonne of hard work, but he’s also someone who came in to the league unable to lift the bar in the gym, and then never really added any muscle. He was also a lot older and already past his physical prime.
We’ve never had issues with Tatum’s body/conditioning. He’s from that Kobe/LeBron school of always being in the best possible shape.
Tatum will lose some burst, but I don’t think they’re a great comparison.
Honestly that finals run showed me he can be effective in many ways
Kinda expected coming back from an achilles injury
ESPN showing the close up slo mo of this was just mean lmao
The commentators would not stop reading off his shooting line when he was missing shots too
Well no shit, he’s rusty. Incredible he’s back and should be up to speed by the playoffs.
the mental recovery was always gonna take longer than the physical recovery
ngl this is lame to post
Nah if this was OPs only post of the night, on some hater shit, that would be one thing.
But they’re just a Mavs fan who was watching the game and posting the big plays. They posted a bunch of Tatum Highlights too.
yeah i’m not gonna do that much research into someone’s posting history but i get why you might as a celtics fan in this case
Whatever the fact he can drive like this is great
He’s just rusty
Reasonable comments not allowed when it comes to Tatum. Delete this brother. /s
You should be pretty encouraged by that explosive blow by.
He tried to pull off Klay’s dunk vs the Cavs in his first game back from ACL & Achilles tears (at the age of 32) 💔
Points for the courage to try though lol no joke. That’s a post-injury mental win in and of itself
Nooo i wouldve liked a highlight
the first sign that the celtics are real contenders is that they’re getting hate posts again
Specifically Tatum too
I am just glad he is looking healthy and stable. The ring rust will take some time to get over.
Yeah…torn Achilles is a big deal.
His ankle is ok but he just cracked 3 vertebrae
As a Laker fan watching this guy play is such a joy. Maybe because he moves so much like Kobe.
Idc. So happy for that dude.
I would imagine his ability to get up and finish that will be one of the last things to fully return from this injury
Understandable
Whoa he back already?!
Started 0-6 and then 5-5.
He is back baby!
Typical reddit nba thread… he got better
When the ripperdoc forgets to add the “double jump” module to your new Achilles.
He wanted the Klay return game dunk
Smokes? Is this a new terminology I’m too old to get hip with? What happened to whiff?
I didn’t know what it meant either so I watched the clip thinking there was a 50⁄50 chance it was going to be a great dunk and an equal chance he was going to miss.
The fact that he went for that…his mind is ready and he is confident in his body. Looked amazing tonight.
Lol between this and the air ball r/nbacirclejerk eatin good tonight
The ANOMALY is slowly regaining his powers……
im getting edged here
well, on the one hand, yikes. on the other hand, it’s a good sign that he can still get to the rim like that, even if he doesn’t have the lift he’s used to having
Can’t tell if I love or hate that he went for that
Father Achilles comes for everyone
Of all the things to be worried about as he comes back, this isn’t one at all. The biggest part of his comeback will be working out his bodies jitters and learning to trust it again. This is just part of that process, and honestly, the fact that he’s trying to yam shit in his first game is actually a fantastic sign for his mental
He’s looking great, he’ll be yamming those in the post-season for sure.
Damn, looks pretty good to me as a neutral Tatum fan after 10 months!
He’s clearly rusty, as expected after such a long time off. On the other hand, he’s not moving like someone coming back from an Achilles tear. Whatever they are doing these days to get players back on the court is pure magic.
the fact he’s even doing this less than a year from his injury is mind blowing.
What a bum, feels like he hasn’t played in 10 months
First game back geez
Bunch of haters lol
He will be back to his usual.
Interesting.
May have missed but I think coach Malone said it well, was a good move and he looked good and comfortable doing it. I’d take it as a good sign if I’m a Celtics fan
Damn he’s moving great.
Tatum been training for months on .5x gravity to prepare for this one
Coming off a major injury and coming back way ahead of schedule. We gotta give him some grace.
He’s moving well and still creating plays for others. That is best case scenario, his shot will naturally come back after a bit of game time.
I don’t know which leg it was but if it was his left that’s a good sign that he landed and didn’t even flinch. He did smoke that dunk tho
All good this is his first game back. He will get there!
Stuffed by the rim is a tough look lmao but the blow by and burst TO the rim is more important imo. He’ll get his legs back at some point or he’ll realize he just should lay that in.
I didn’t expect bro to hoop this season.. let alone blitz pass a defender on the blow by.. fudge the dunk 😂
I don’t think Tatum would have tried to dunk if he wasn’t dunking in practice.
I’m just happy he’s shaking the rust off. If we do anything this year it’s gravy, but now we can load up hard again.
“Grant Hill drinks Sprite”
Nah g upload the putback and the 3
Nice move though tbh
I’m just happy bro is back. This team will somehow have a chance now.
HE’S DONE MIRACLES ON MEE
How is it that he is back so quickly
Idc he looks good. Obviously gonna take some time to get to form but he looks great considering
Shit I love this. Bring the hate til banner 19
I’m genuinely shocked by how normal these comments are?!?!? What planet are we on???
The mind is willing but the body is spongy and bruised
No need to rush back. Take your time, heal, and get your strength up. Your family ain’t going hungry.
He’ll get that lift back. More encouraging to see he has no hesitation going for that dunk.
Modern medicine is insane
Got down hill smooth as hell though
Guy was 19 years old.
He’ll be ok.
Absolutely natural coming back from an injury. He still blew by his man though. The bounce will return.
Didn’t he tear his right Achilles? Can’t imagine that affected jumping off his left here.
You compensate a lot over the year ish you are recovering, definitely changes the structure of the “good” leg
He will be just fine everything looks the same physically
What if he’s comes back 100% but never makes a dunk again
He’s only 19. Give him a break.
What would Kobe do?