Jayson Tatum had 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in his season debut to help the Boston Celtics defeat the visiting Dallas Mavericks 120-100 on Friday night.
Tatum, who was in Boston’s starting lineup, appeared in an NBA game for the first time since he tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 4 of last year’s Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks.
Boston received 24 points from Jaylen Brown and 20 from Derrick White. Neemias Queta added 16 points and 15 rebounds.
The news wasn’t all good for Boston, as Nikola Vucevic left the court in the first quarter with a fracture of his right ring finger and did not return to the game. ESPN reported that he will have a medical procedure on the finger Saturday that will keep him out of action for at least one month. Vucevic entered the contest averaging 15.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.
Klay Thompson made 5 of 11 3-point attempts and led Dallas with 19 points. The Mavericks were 14 of 35 from 3-point range.
Cooper Flagg finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Flagg returned to action against Orlando Thursday night after missing eight games with a sprained left foot.
The result extended the Mavericks’ losing streak to six games. Dallas has lost 16 of its last 18.
Tatum fed Queta for an alley-oop dunk for the game’s first basket, electrifying the home crowd. He assisted Brown on a 3-pointer soon after, but he didn’t score his first points of the season until a putback dunk late in the second quarter that put Boston ahead 52-51.
Tatum followed that with a 3-pointer as the Celtics took a 58-53 lead into halftime. They led 90-80 entering the fourth, and another trey by Tatum gave Boston a 106-87 lead with 6:51 to play.
The Celtics stretched their lead to as many as 25 points.
Boston had a 52-30 edge in points in the paint.
