Tatum was making plays all game, but this corner 3 was what made me say “he’s back”. The jab step. The pullup. The reaction. Vintage JT.
Jab step on his surgically repaired Achilles
With a pure bottom of the net swish too
It was so great to see him get more comfortable as the game went on. TBH I was just so shocked from the jump how he looked. Immediately was back to being one of our best rebounders if not best.
0-6 to 5-5 was so Tatum, like he never left
I mean, he was a slight step behind, he wasn’t guarding the best player. That said, this is encouraging and I think, he will get back to his old self. Alot of things to work but generally a very good direction
He was guarding cooper and was on Khris Middleton. Held all opponents to 3-11 shooting when he guarded them..
I think that the movement is a lot more indicative of where he is than his shooting.
I don’t know. On the one hand, there were moments in which he definitely looked like the old JT. On the other hand, I still saw some lack of burst in his first step on drives, his defense, and most noticeably, his jumping.
Whether this was due to nerves/anxiety/rust OR his current physical abilities is impossible to say. I think that we all need at least another 5-10 games to gain a better assessment of where he is in his recovery.
Regardless, what he did last night is very commendable. It’s EXTREMELY difficult to get over both the physical and mental hurdles that such an injury imposes (especially in such a short amount of time).
Agree here. Notice several times where his bounce limited him, but also think he needs those games to build up trust in himself.
Also hard to say since it’s his first game in 10 months. He looked gassed at times. Also, The speed of the game is a lot different than practice. It’s why he’s back now with 20 games left.
He needs to get his conditioning back, game speed and also the mental aspect of being comfortable to drive and landing on his leg and not being worried. You could tell he was tentative more than anything.
I wouldn’t judge his recovery on game one. And 15/12/7 is a much better start than I imagined.
People also have to take this return as part of his rehab process in working his way back.
Yea I was wondering if it was mental also. That and general game conditioning.
And honestly, I don’t expect him to be 100% at all this season.
His conditioning was noticeably off, and I’m sure as he ramps up he’ll have some soreness and whatnot. In another month I’m curious if they consider playing him b2b or pushing 35+ minutes consistently.
Imagine if he seamlessly continues to fit into the team and rotations. We could even use him as a small ball 5 in certain lineups and say “just be a solid defender and fit into the offense” to help cover for vuc injury. Small ball 5 probably helps him not move quite as much on D similar to how the lakers use LeBron at times (Tatum obviously is a superior defender at this point of their career, just saying)
“JT for threeeeeee”
Chills
Yeah the deflection leading to broken play, only to get bailed out by a Tatum 3.
Felt amazing
The hands up like he just got caught in the cookie jar is my favorite celly
He loves these but I’ll always think of 76ers game 6 when I see this shot. The start of one of the most underrated clutch playoff moments ever.
Honestly I was super impressed with his first quarter. It don’t show on the score board but it’s insane hour cleaner the offense runs through him. We were just missing shots he created.
The sound of that net and then the Jaaaay Teeeee for threeeeeeeeeee. Be still my beating heart
After that 0-6 that was honestly some of the cleanest shooting we’ve seen from JT. Didn’t touch rim on 3-4 of those. Doubt he’s had time to work on mechanics but it looks NICE. Maybe the silver lining is that wrist fully healed.
His 3s were SO wet!!