Did Celtics’ Jayson Tatum have a bad game? Understanding the truth behind the box score

BOSTON — If you turned in your TV Wednesday morning, you couldn’t miss the reward for the Boston Celtics’ blowout win to take a 1-0 collection lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers. But there was a caveat.

Derrick White was a star, Jaylen Brown was unstoppable, however Jayson Tatum had a bad taking pictures night time. Shooting 0-for-5 from deep, and scoring 18 factors, it was simple to write down up a chyron questioning if the Celtics needs to be involved about Tatum’s taking pictures.

“It’s just the casuals who think it’s all about the shots,” Payton Pritchard mentioned at Wednesday’s follow. “But there’s so many different areas he can affect the game. If he only gets 18 points, but we get a win by 25 points, he was very impactful.”

But the questions pop up as a result of it wasn’t simply the Cavaliers who had him lacking. Tatum is connecting at 25 p.c from 3-point vary this postseason. Considering he’s taking pictures 31 p.c past the arc over the 26 video games since the begin of final yr’s playoffs, it’s a honest query to ask.

“I think he’s taking really good shots. I just think they’re not falling,” coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “I urge him to continue to take those, and they’ll fall.”

The notion has usually been that Tatum had an underwhelming taking pictures season. But after spending Christmas week in Los Angeles recalibrating his shot mechanics, one thing that recurrently occurs in some unspecified time in the future yearly, he shot 40.7 p.c in the 39 video games between January and March earlier than he went on cruise management in April.

His contact has eluded him up to now in the playoffs, however the Celtics haven’t actually been examined up to now. So what occurs when a crew is nice sufficient to have the Celtics on the ropes, begin to end?

“We’re winning and he’s playmaking. So it seems like he’s handling it well,” Jrue Holiday mentioned. “But again, Jayson is more than just a scorer. He’s a complete basketball player who does everything. So I think for him to be able to damn near average a triple-double almost every game is something he can do.”

On the 4 performs the place one other Celtic took a shot after Tatum grabbed the defensive rebound, Boston scored or obtained fouled. When he took the shot after his defensive rebound, he missed virtually each time.

Parsing Tatum’s misses, he repeatedly focused Cavs guards in the excessive submit and missed 5 photographs which are usually in his wheelhouse. He bricked a number of clear seems at pull-up 3s. Often, he’ll discover himself one thing like 0-for-5 midway by means of the third quarter, then go on a barrage to complete 3-for-8 and it’s thought of a regular night time for him. But with the manner White and Brown have been cooking, there was no want for Tatum to search out his taking pictures rhythm late in Game 1.

As we examined in Tuesday’s story, Tatum’s screening was instrumental in getting White’s pull-up sport going. With Kristaps Porziņģis out, Tatum’s screening grew to become a central tenet of the sport plan, particularly with Al Horford pulling Evan Mobley out of the paint. So whereas he took the bait on a few of the Cavs’ defensive selections and didn’t convert most of the time, the Celtics obtained to make use of him how they needed.

“I don’t think he’s being forced to do anything. I mean, he was 1.6 (points per possession) as a screener in our offense yesterday, which would be the best offense in the history of the world,” Mazzulla mentioned. “And he had 11 potential assists and he had 18 points and three blocks. I think he’s doing a great job of taking what the defense gives him and finding any way to impact the game on both ends of the floor. That’s what we need him to be and he’s doing a really good job of it.”

Unlike most conditions for high-scoring stars, the Celtics roster has sufficient scoring round him in order that Tatum doesn’t have to drive the subject most nights. Game 1 had him wanting like extra of a decoy to release Boston’s guards, which works since Tatum is greater than keen to become involved as a screener.

“I think he’s becoming a playmaker. He’s been a playmaker,” Holiday mentioned. “Not that he’s being a sacrificial lamb, but he making a lot of the right plays, he takes his chances where people are going to double-team him and he’s gonna take some of those shots, but I think he’s getting everybody open looks.”

There’s little doubt that if the Celtics are gunning for a title, Tatum’s going to have to transform on his open seems. According to NBA Stats, he shot 2-for-10 on uncontested photographs in Game 1. He has made a residing at looking of rhythm on the best photographs, then burying seems that solely he and a small group of stars can pull off.

As with all the things in the Celtics offense, Tatum might want to obtain steadiness. Over time, he’s confirmed he’ll discover a manner.

(Photo: Winslow Townson / USA Today)