1. Jayson Tatum is Back

After 298 Days, Jayson Tatum is back playing with the Boston Celtics. TD Garden was buzzing hours before the game and once we heard his name in the starting lineup again, it felt like an ethereal experience. In his first game back Tatum played 27 minutes and finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists on 6-16 shooting from the field and 3-8 shooting from three.

Tatum started the game shooting 0-6 before scoring his first points of the season with a put-back dunk. The following possession, Tatum was able to fake, slide, and hit his patented side-step three to make the TD Garden go into a frenzy. He ended the first half with 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.

The second half saw Tatum trying to be more aggressive hunting his shot. He was able to cut through the defense to find his shots and make two tough catch-and-shoot threes over good contests from the Mavericks.

The most impressive part about Tatum’s return for me was his 7 assists. Even if the shot wasn’t falling, Tatum still looked to make the right play and his gravity alone allowed the Celtics to have a ton of wide open shots.

Postgame Tatum talked about being a step slow or a little too fast a few plays but that is expected coming off the injury. He described his return as “surreal” and said “This is a huge step. I’ve still got a long ways to go.” Tonight was a very special night but when Joe Mazzulla hugged him as he checked out for the final time, you knew that it was official: Jayson Tatum is back.

2. Jaylen Brown is Still Great

Leading up to this game, people were rehashing the age old debate between Jaylen Brown vs Jayson Tatum. They would ask “who’s team it was” or “who is the better player.” To quote the great Derrick White on his podcast: “As long as we win, I don’t care who 1A and 1B is” and guess what, the Celtics won.

This brings us to Jaylen Brown’s performance that looked pretty great alongside Jayson Tatum if you could believe it, finishing with 24 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals on 9-17 shooting from the field and 2-5 from three. Brown looked absolutely fired up coming off a rough game against the Hornets and it looked like he fed off of the energy of the sold out TD Garden crowd.

This game gave me flashbacks to the 2024 NBA Finals, partly because they were playing the Mavericks, but really because of the aggression that Brown had when he drove to the basket. Whether he ended in a normal layup, a euro, or a dunk, Brown made it look effortless and it was a treat to watch.

3. Derrick White Hot Shooting Continues

Coming off a good game in the loss to the Hornets on Wednesday, Derrick White continued his hot shooting stretch as of late, finishing with 20 points on 8-16 shooting from the field. White did shoot 2-7 on threes but that wasn’t the part of his game that stood out. To me, it was the fact that he had Jaylen Brown like performance when it came to driving to the paint.

White had to be feeling the energy from the crowd because we saw him throw down two dunks in this game. On these dunks he did a great job when it came to driving hard to the basket and cutting. White has done a great job in the pick-and-roll this season but normally it ends with a pass to the roller. Instead, he decided to take the shots coming off the screen and was able to finish with a lot of easy baskets.

4. Monster Neemias Queta Game

Neemias Queta looked to have gotten injured in his last game against the Hornets, only playing 16 minutes and finishing with 2 points and 2 rebounds. Queta looked fine in this matchup against the Mavericks, finishing with a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds on 6-8 shooting.

We saw a glimpse of what the pick-and-roll looked like with Queta and Tatum where it looked like they have the potential to build some great chemistry. Neemias Queta is one of the best screeners in the game and when you pair that with an elite passer of Jayson Tatum’s caliber, it is going to make some beautiful basketball. He also did a great job when it came to finishing tough looks but Boston did a great job overall of finding open shots for Queta and it paid off big time.

5. Nikola Vucevic Injury

Midway through the first quarter, Nikola Vucevic hurt his hand after caught this pass. He looked to have hit his hand on the Mavericks defender and that is what caused the injury.

Later on during the game, Shams reported that Vucevic is expected to miss approximately one month with a fractured his right ring finger is expected to undergo a procedure on Saturday. This is a big loss to the Celtics in a few ways. One is the fact that they just won’t have his production available but the biggest thing is now he will have even less time to develop chemistry with Jayson Tatum. Vucevic is a veteran so I am sure he will be able to adapt but this is just a tough blow.

6. Luka Garza Stepped Up

To replace the production of Vucevic, Luka Garza stepped up in a big way. In 18 minutes off the bench, Garza finished with 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks. On offense Garza did a great job of being open and ready to shoot. This resulted in many plays where Boston found him open and he was able to make something happen. On defense, he was great at protecting the rim and contesting shots.

I have faith that Garza will be able to do a great job filling in for Nikola Vucevic over the next month. He was playing some great basketball before the Celtics made the move for Vucevic and has continued to impress in his time since.

7. Back to Celtics Basketball

The Celtics loss to the Hornets on Wednesday felt like a complete anomaly to the brand of basketball that we are used to seeing. Boston not only lost the turnover battle but they also just looked sluggish which is uncharacteristic of this group. However, they bounced back in a big way against the Mavericks, going back to their brand of basketball.

Boston only turned the ball over 8 times and were able to force 10 against Dallas. The Celtics defense was also locked in, blocking 10 shots and forcing 6 steals. They also shot 47-99 (48%) from the field, showcasing an offense that was clicking on all cylinders. Jaylen Brown said post game against Charlotte to “flush” the loss and I would say they did a pretty good job of that in this win over Dallas.

8. Dominated the Paint

A huge part of the Celtics success in this game was their dominance in the paint. On the boards, they out-rebounded the Mavericks 58-45, with 14 of those coming as offensive rebounds.

Boston did a great job on the offensive side as well, winning the points in the paint battle 52-30. Underneath the basket, the Celtics shot 21-27 (77.8%), doing a great job of finishing after that was a point of emphasis in their loss against Charlotte. Overall, the Celtics just outmuscled the Mavericks tonight on both sides of the ball, leading to their victory.

9. Cooper Flagg Homecoming

Cooper Flagg born in Newport, Maine and was a huge Celtics fan. He said in an interview, “I’m excited. I know there’s going to be a lot of people showing up from Maine & showing support. I’m really excited just to be up there for the first time & play in that arena. It’s the only arena I went to as a little kid. I’m really excited to get an opportunity & I’m just blessed.” You could tell there were a lot of people from Maine in the building because he got a standing ovation from the TD Garden crowd, as a member of the road team.

This his first chance to play against his childhood team and he struggled, finishing with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists on 7-23 shooting from the field and 0-4 from three. Flagg had a scary fall early in the game but was able to play through it. Boston did a great job of slowing him down and forcing him to take tough shots after he dropped 36 points in their first matchup of the season on February 3rd.

Although it probably wasn’t his ideal first game in TD Garden, Flagg said post game that it was a “cool experience” to be back in the place that he grew up going to games and thinks it will be “incredibly fun” to come back to Boston for the rest of his career.

10. TD Garden was rocking

The hype for this game was at an all time high and the Celtics fans in the building brought the energy. From the first time Tatum ran out of the tunnel, the crowd went nuts. When they announced Tatum in the starting lineup the crowd went into a frenzy. Finally, any time Tatum touched the ball the crowd wanted to blow the roof off of the place.

This had the atmosphere of an NBA Finals game and being in the building to experience this historic night in Boston Celtics history was incredible. You could see the players feed off the energy and use it to go on some insurmountable runs like their 36-12 run from the 4:16 mark of the third quarter to the 5:12 mark of the fourth quarter.

Boston knows when a moment is a special and can get loud to a level that not many other cities around the NBA can. This is why Celtics fans are the best fans in the world.

Victor Wembanyama enjoyed "one of the best wins" of his career as he helped the San Antonio Spurs make a 25-point comeback against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The French star claimed 27 points and 10 rebounds as the Spurs fought back from 75-50 down in the third quarter to win 116-112 on Friday.

The 22-year-old grabbed the go-ahead score with 16 seconds remaining to secure San Antonio's largest comeback of the season and their 14th win from 15 games.

Wembanyama said in a post-game on-court interview that he was "about to pass out. I've got zero left right now".

"That was one of the best wins," he added. "That was one of the best games, best parts of my career, my basketball life."

The Spurs improved to 46-17 and are now 2.5 games behind Western Conference leaders the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Slovenian star Luka Doncic scored 44 points as the Los Angeles Lakers won 128-117 at home to the Indiana Pacers.

The Lakers were without LeBron James (elbow, foot) as Doncic scored his 10th 40-point haul of the season, breaking a tie with Minnesota's Anthony Edwards for the most this season.

London-born forward OG Anunoby scored a season-high 34 points as the New York Knicks won 142-103 at the Denver Nuggets.

Denver's star guard Jamal Murray missed the second half after rolling his left ankle when he stepped on team-mate Nikola Jokic's foot.

The Knicks remain third in the Eastern Conference behind the second-placed Boston Celtics, who won 120-100 at home to the Dallas Mavericks as Jayson Tatum played his first game of the season.

The six-time All Star scored 15 points from 27 minutes of action on his return after suffering a ruptured Achilles during last season's play-offs.

• NBA legend James claims another scoring record

BOSTON — Jayson Tatum missed his first six shots to begin his long-awaited season debut against the Mavericks on Friday night. Coming back from a nearly 300-day absence triggered a slew of emotions for him, and those began hours before his long-awaited reception at TD Garden.

“I just felt really anxious,” Tatum admitted after Boston’s 120-110 win over the Mavericks. “It’s been a long time coming just to get to this point. Many nights and days, I dreamed about this moment and the anticipation, the crowd. It’s been forty-two and a half weeks since I last played in an NBA game, so I’m just trying to get caught up in the speed and everything. I just kind of felt like I was a step off or moving too fast. But the game started to slow down as I relaxed a little bit.”

Tatum’s mini slump wasn’t long-lasting. It intensified the eagerness that was already brewing amongst fans in attendance. Every shot attempt forced Celtics fans to withhold their cheers and applause, whether it was a mid-range jumper from 19 feet or a one-handed dunk attempt that nearly erupted TD Garden’s crowd. It was only a matter of time before Tatum found his footing, and without a concrete minutes restriction, time was on his side throughout the night.

In the second quarter, a missed 3-point attempt from Payton Pritchard unintentionally set Tatum up for a putback dunk to get him on the board for the first time in over nine months. That was all he needed.

From there, Tatum converted his next five shot attempts, two of which were corner 3-pointers over defensive contests from P.J. Washington. Tatum redeemed himself for his cold 0-for-6 start by finishing 6-for-16. He scored 15 points with 12 rebounds and seven assists, notching his first double-double of the season while playing 27 minutes in a successful first appearance back.

Most importantly, Tatum’s performance proved that coexisting with the readjusted Celtics offense isn’t a cause for concern.

“It was a surreal feeling, but then it felt normal,” Tatum said. “So that was really promising for me, not even when the game started. Just driving to the game, starting my routine, doing my pregame shooting. I knew it was a big moment, but everything just started to feel really normal again.”

Before the game, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla revealed there would be little to no restrictions applied to Tatum. He wasn’t coming off the bench, and his minutes weren’t being counted. For months, word on the street had been that unless Tatum was 100 percent ready, he wouldn’t be taking the court — and that proved true. Tatum returned with the intention of giving Boston everything and then some. Getting the starting nod was one thing, but logging 27 minutes was another.

Tatum went from surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon last May, to months of recovery, to weeks of ramping up enough to return to NBA action. Throughout that process, he watched the Celtics part ways with a handful of key contributors from the organization’s 2024 championship, only to fill their spots with less-experienced replacements who’ve risen to the occasion. Yet despite it all, Boston hasn’t missed a beat. The team responded to its adversity from the very start, going 41–21 without Tatum and securing a not-too-shabby No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference entering his return.

Getting to rejoin his teammates and contribute was something Tatum didn’t take for granted.

“I had a real sense of gratitude for just being back on the floor and playing basketball again,” Tatum said.

Tatum opened up about the reality of undergoing rehab and its long, grueling journey. While his teammates were practicing, playing, and improving together as the season progressed, Tatum was in the shadows fulfilling his obligations as a one-man crew. That wasn’t easy.

“Going through rehab and being injured is lonely — and it’s not intentional,” Tatum shared. “I couldn’t practice for a while. I couldn’t be in the game. When they were on the court, I was in the weight room, having to do my own thing. So you feel isolated in a sense. I just expressed that being around as much as possible — going to games, being on the plane — really made me feel like I was still very much a part of the team.”

Jaylen Brown scored a team-high 24 points in the win, while Derrick White pitched in with 20, followed by Pritchard’s 18 off the bench. Had Tatum converted on just half of his missed attempts, he would’ve finished with 20 points as well — further proving there’s no legitimate concern about his fit in the offense.

Even when he wasn’t scoring, Tatum found ways to impact the offense, and Mazzulla noticed that.

“What I liked was his approach,” Mazzulla said. “… I think he had two assists, three rebounds before he even took his first shot. So I think the playmaking, but also a steady balance of the things of the process of what we need to do to win, and I thought he attacked that well tonight.”

Tatum helped empower the offense — 48 hours after being held to 89 points in a loss to the Hornets — to the point where Mazzulla was able to pull him and the rest of the starters with five minutes remaining. With a 23-point lead in hand, Mazzulla unloaded the bench, embraced Tatum on the sidelines, and waited for the final seconds to wind down before the traditional “Gino Time” celebration played on the video board.

It wasn’t the first time Tatum had heard “Gino Time” play during a Celtics victory lap this season, but it was the first time he’d been part of it since last year. He credited everyone involved for helping the team reach such heights by the time of his return.

“Obviously, the team looks totally different than it did last year,” Tatum said. “But I can’t commend the group enough and the coaching staff for how they’ve attacked this season, how they’ve competed and played together every single night. I don’t know if there’s a team that’s been more fun to watch this season play as a unit.”

DENVER — Pacôme Dadiet, the 2024 first-round pick who has spent much of this season in the G-League, finally took advantage of his NBA opportunity in Friday’s 142-103 Knicks win over the Nuggets.

The 20-year-old Frenchman went off for 11 points in just nine minutes of garbage time, helping send the Nuggets to their worst home loss since 1998 against Michael Jordan’s Bulls.

It was a career high in points for Dadiet, who shot 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.

“He’s been playing well in the G-League and shooting the mess out of it,” coach Mike Brown said. “And he’s got great size. He’s young. And we want him to keep growing and developing. Anytime young guys like that see the ball go in and do those things on the floor in an NBA game, it helps with the belief. It helps not only in them believing and their confidence level going up, but also their teammates, too.”

Dadiet hadn’t played since Feb. 8 and never scored more than five points this season before Friday.

“It definitely feels good. Every time I go out there, I try to go out with confidence,” Dadiet said. “Because I know I’m not going to get that much time. So I’ve been working with the G-League team to get some reps and it definitely feels good.”

Josh Hart, an enthusiastic Yankees fan despite growing up in the D.C. area, will get his own bobblehead in The Bronx.

The Yankees announced Friday that Sept. 25 against the Orioles is Josh Hart Bobblehead Night, with the first 18,000 fans receiving his mini figure that is holding a bat in his left hand, a basketball in his right.

“I can’t wait for it. Obviously I love my Yanks,” Hart said Friday. “So being able to do that is super cool. I’m super excited when that opportunity came to us. And we really jumped on it.”

Hart is the grand-nephew of Yankees legendary catcher Elston Howard. He wore Howard’s No. 32 jersey while throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a Yankees game in September 2024.

This year, Hart’s bobblehead giveaway is the day before CC Sabathia’s jersey is retired at Yankee Stadium.

“It’s my first bobblehead doll ever,” Hart said. “So good vibes.”

If not for the controversial no-call in Wednesday’s loss to the Thunder, Jalen Brunson would’ve collected a career-best four charges drawn in one game.

But the refs swallowed their whistles in the first quarter — when Shai-Gilgeous Alexander appeared to charge into Brunson on a drive for what would’ve been his third foul — and the Knicks point guard finished the night with three charges drawn.

“Hopefully, there’s another opportunity to break the record,” Brunson said.

The official NBA referee X account defended the non-call, saying, “Brunson does not give Gilgeous-Alexander an opportunity to avoid contact.”

Brunson said Friday he didn’t see that post.

Either way, the point guard entered Friday leading the NBA in charges drawn with 25.

LOS ANGELES —  In the first leg of the Lakers’ back-to-back, they came out and were totally dominated by Denver. The Nuggets jumped out to an 11-0 run and never relinquished the lead.

For the second game, the Lakers flipped the script, beating the Pacers 128-117.

They were able to cruise to victory despite playing without LeBron James, Deandre Ayton and Maxi Kleber, because Luka Dončić decided losing wasn’t an option.

Luka usually starts games strong. He leads the league in first-quarter points with 11.7 per game. Against the Pacers, he took his aggression to another level.

He started his offensive onslaught with a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the wing. Later in the period, he converted again from the same spot.

Dončić was feeling it from deep, and the hot streak never ended in the first quarter. He went a perfect 5-5 from deep.

His final 3-point attempt during the opening period was, arguably, his most impressive. Luka waited until the shot clock wound down and then took a highly contested three from the very top of the key.

While this is a bad shot for most, Luka made it look routine. The ball swished through the net, the crowd roared, and Dončić grinned, pointing to some fans courtside who were marveling at his greatness.

“I mean, some ridiculous shot making,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said postgame. “And a lot of ridiculous shot making against really, really good defenders. I think he just really imposed his will and took control of the game early and gave us a cushion.”

Luka ended the frame with a whopping 22 points. This was the fifth time this season that he had at least 20 after 12 minutes of play. Considering that they were missing two starters, Austin Reaves was struggling and the Lakers were coming off a tough loss, every point on Friday night was necessary.

“I think when you see a guy like him, kind of getting into his spots, hitting his shots, it definitely just brings a different level to our group,” Luke Kennard said.

While Luka’s offense constantly receives adulation, his defensive moments often go unnoticed. Against the Pacers, those defensive plays were loud.

In the first quarter, Luka was running all over the court, helping on the weak side, grabbing defensive rebounds, and matching the Pacers’ physicality.

He blocked Pascal Siakam when he tried to attack him one-on-one, and then at the 6:47 mark, he intercepted a pass from Siakam as he tried to get the Pacers out in transition.

Luka turned that defense into offense by going coast-to-coast with the ball and scoring on the other end.

“Yeah, I know people are not going to talk about it ever,” Luka said regarding his defensive highlights. “So, I just try to do my job, try to be more aggressive, be more engaged. So, just trying to do better on the defensive end.”

Thanks to Dončić’s efforts, the Lakers were in front 35-27 at the end of the first. From that point forward, the Lakers never looked back. They never trailed again, and the lead grew to as much as 24 points.

Due to Luka’s first-quarter play, he got to rest the entire fourth. An important and beneficial thing, considering the Lakers have a slew of tough games ahead during this homestand.

Luka won’t always reach this level of excellence to start a game, but the Lakers needed it in this contest and he delivered. It’s the fact that he can do it at all that makes him such a special player.

And it’s why, pregame, his former head coach, current coach of the Pacers, Rick Carlisle, gave him the highest of praise.

“He’s the greatest player I’ve ever coached,” Carlisle said.

That’s high praise from a coach who won a title with Dirk Nowitzki. But as Luka showed on Friday night, he is that good, and once he starts hanging banners at Crypto.com Arena, that quote will be the consensus among basketball aficionados.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Taiwan defeated Vietnam 1-0 on Saturday to move into second place in Group C at the Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining.

Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of its three Asian Cup titles in 1981.

It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, which created several chances to extend its lead.

Vietnam, the 2022 quarterfinalist, beat India in its opener but struggled to threaten the Taiwan defense and failed to record a shot on target. Thi Duyen Tran came closest with a first-half chance that went wide from inside the area.

Both teams now have three points from two games. Taiwan sits ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, which faced India later Saturday. India is still seeking its first point in the tournament.

Record attendance continues

Australian organizers said Saturday that the tournament had sold 250,000 tickets. The milestone follows the tournament already breaking the all-time total attendance record, with 92,795 fans at the first 10 matches.

That surpassed the previous record of 59,910 for the 2010 edition in China.

State of play

The top two teams in each of the three groups advance to the quarterfinals along with the two best third-place teams.

In Group A, Australia, which beat Iran 4-0 on Thursday, and South Korea have already qualified. Australia and South Korea will meet in Sydney on Sunday to determine top spot in the group, where another record crowd is expected.

After back-to-back losses, Iran needs a big win over the Philippines (0-2) on Sunday to have any chance of advancing to the quarterfinals and qualifying for next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

In Group B, defending champions China and three-time winners North Korea are through to the quarterfinals after their second consecutive wins in group matches Friday. In opening matches on Tuesday, Myong Yu Jong had a first-half hat trick in North Korea’s 3-0 win over Uzbekistan and China beat Bangladesh 2-0.

Group B play concludes Monday in Sydney when North Korea plays China in a match that will decide first place in the group, and Bangladesh takes on Uzbekistan.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer