BOSTON — At 7:09 p.m. on Friday, TD Garden public address announcer Eddie Palladino shouted the words Celtics fans had waited nearly 10 months to hear:

“Aaannd from Duke, No. 0, Jayyyson Taaaatum!”

Two hundred ninety-eight days removed from Achilles surgery, the Celtics’ All-NBA superstar was officially back. And though he didn’t immediately morph back into Peak Tatum, he turned in an encouraging all-around performance in his season debut.

Tatum started against the Dallas Mavericks and tallied 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting, 12 rebounds and seven assists in 27 minutes as Boston cruised to a 120-100 victory.

Jaylen Brown and Derrick White — the primary drivers of the Celtics’ offense in Tatum’s absence — scored 24 and 20 points, respectively, with Brown adding seven rebounds and seven assists and White notching two steals and two blocks. Payton Pritchard had 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists off the bench, and Neemias Queta stacked up 16 points and 15 rebounds.

Now 42-21 and sitting second in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics will work to reintegrate Tatum into their winning formula over their final 19 regular-season games. They’ll need to go through that process without their top external midseason addition, however, as veteran center Nikola Vucevic exited Friday’s win with a fractured finger. Vucevic needs surgery and is expected to miss the next month, according to a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Tatum’s comeback was a playoff-level event in and around TD Garden.

Every fan received a white T-shirt with the Celtics logo on the front and Tatum’s name and number on the back. The shirts were sponsored by Amica Insurance, whose new “Back to Zero” advertising campaign is geared around Tatum’s comeback.

The Celtics Pro Shop sold what manufacturer New Era described as “one-time, extremely limited” caps commemorating the occasion. Their slogan: “Welc0me Back,” with Tatum’s jersey number replacing the “o” and a shamrock in place of the “a.”

The team’s social media feeds pumped out more than a dozen Tatum graphics and hype videos during the lead-up to tipoff. Once the arena doors opened, hundreds of fans packed the lower bowl more than an hour before game time to watch Tatum warm up.

With the added draw of Mavericks rookie and Maine native Cooper Flagg returning to his native New England for the first time as an NBA player, the game also attracted by far the largest media contingent of the season. A Celtics staffer said the team issued roughly 250 credentials, on par with an NBA Finals game.

That level of anticipation — highly unusual for a March 6 matchup featuring one team that is well outside playoff contention — seemed to throw off both teams’ shooters in the early going. While the Garden crowd roared, the Celtics missed seven of their first eight shots, converting just one field goal in the first three-plus minutes.

Tatum notched an assist on that lone make (a Queta alley-oop on Boston’s fourth possession) and another to Brown on the Celtics’ first 3-pointer. As he readjusted to game speed, Tatum made an immediate impact with his passing, accounting for five of his team’s 15 first-half assists. He also pulled down five rebounds before halftime.

The shooting took longer to return. Tatum misfired on his first six field-goal attempts, including a driving dunk that looked poised to blow the roof off of the already revved-up Garden. Tatum blew past a Mavericks defender, cocked his right arm back and clanged the ball off the front of the rim.

It wasn’t until late in the first half that Tatum finally settled in. In one 22-second stretch, he slammed home a go-ahead put-back dunk off a missed Pritchard 3-pointer, then buried a stepback corner 3. An and-one dunk by White moments later sent Boston into halftime with a 58-53 lead.

Tatum wasn’t done. He scored the Celtics’ first points of the second half with a bank-shot 9-footer, nailed a midrange fadeaway and hit another 3 from the corner, this one coming while the basket was still swaying from a failed Queta dunk attempt moments earlier.

All told, Tatum made five straight field goals after his 0-for-6 start. He then fed Brown for a layup before checking out just past the midway point of the third quarter.

A 13-5 run with Tatum on the bench, capped by 3-pointers from Pritchard and rookie Hugo Gonzalez, stretched the Celtics’ lead to double digits. Tatum returned to play the first seven minutes of the fourth before being shut down for the night.

He and Brown weren’t able to execute a fast-break lob they attempted with 7:17 to play, but Brown salvaged that possession with a layup, and Tatum sank his third 3 of the night on Boston’s next trip down the floor. He received another standing ovation when Baylor Scheierman — the player bounced from Boston’s starting lineup to make room for Tatum — replaced him with 5:01 remaining and the Celtics up 112-87.

Mazzulla lifted the rest of Boston’s regulars shortly thereafter, sending in two-way player Ron Harper Jr. and fourth-string rookie center Amari Williams to close out the game. Vucevic’s injury moved Williams up a rung on the depth chart as Boston pushes toward the postseason.

Flagg finished with 16 points on 7-of-23 shooting, to go along with eight rebounds and six assists.

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