Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Struggles against Suns on Thursday

Getty Images Jayson Tatum attempting a dunk.

The Boston Celtics have seen better days. The biggest story in the NBA on Thursday night was how the Phoenix Suns somehow, almost pulled off a major upset against the Boston Celtics. The keyword here being almost though, as the Celtics forced overtime after climbing back and finishing the game off with a win. While the Celtics finished off the Suns in crunch time, they couldn’t really give any credit to their second-year forward, Jayson Tatum.

Early on, many just assumed that Tatum was hitting an early slump in the game, and eventually he would find his rhythm. Nope. Tatum struggled all throughout the night. He was having such a hard time shooting against the Suns, and he was pretty much benched for his poor effort. Instead of getting the start in the second half, the Celtics went with Marcus Smart, not Tatum.

What’s Going on with Him?

Entering into Thursday’s game, Tatum has been averaging 15 points-per-game. Not bad, but not all that great either. He’s not looking like the same superstar standout that we saw in the playoffs last year, which is fine. But churning out two-point games against bad teams is not a very great look for Tatum as his team really depends on his contributions.

Everybody has an off night every once in a while, but Tatum is beginning to show some signs of a Sophomore slump looming. That’s not to say that his weak performance on Thursday will be an everyday thing from here on out, but his inconsistency is beginning to become a concern for the Celtics moving forward.

Hopefully, Tatum can bounce back against the Utah Jazz on Friday night. At this point, he needs to start showing some more efficiency to the coaching staff before he starts seeing some regression in his minutes.

There’s no need for the team to panic after one terrible game, but they can’t be all that confident in Tatum. And with Marcus Morris being the critical component to the Celtics victory on Thursday, Boston will have some important decision-making to do concerning Tatum’s minutes moving forward.