Getty Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
Jayson Tatum has come in for swathes of criticism following his uninspired performance during the Boston Celtics‘ loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Having shot just 28.6% from the field and 22.2% from deep during Boston’s NBA Finals rematch against the reigning NBA champions, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins, who was speaking on a December 12 episode of NBA Today, sounded off about how Tatum needs to ‘get over the hump’ by winning a game against the team that stopped him from becoming a champion.
“You know what? It’s one thing to have a bad shooting night; everybody goes through that. But to not have it on your mind to come out here and just be pure dominant without Andrew Wiggins being on the floor. From Jayson Tatum talking about how miserable his off-season was because of the way he performed in the finals to him actually going to a post-game interview and saying this game was more meaningful to the fans and the media than it was to him, it made my skin crawl…The narrative is always going to be, until he plays against Golden State again this season, is that no matter what else he does, they’re going to say, ‘oh you don’t go that against Golden State,’ and you wanna get that monkey off your back, and I was just expecting more out of him, from just all aspects of the game, and he didn’t deliver,” Perkins said.
Tatum followed up his struggling performance against the Warriors with another poor outing in Boston’s 93-113 loss to the LA Clippers on December 12.
Tatum Discusses How he Can Improve
Tatum may have had two poor performances in subsequent games, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s been dominant all season, so much so that he’s currently in the running for an MVP trophy at the end of the season.
Speaking to the media in his post-game press conference, Tatum discussed areas of his game he needs to improve if he wants to bounce back to the level of play we saw from him in the opening months of the season.
“I think you just gotta make quicker decisions. You know, anytime you catch the ball, I think you gotta iso, dribble up the court. (Nic) Batum was staying with me, coming up the court, even if I didn’t have the ball. So, you know, making quicker decisions, attacking, not giving them a chance to load up or to come double, things I’ve just gotta be better at,” Tatum said.
Against the Clippers, Tatum provided the Celtics with 20 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and a steal but failed to find consistency in his shot, shooting just 35% from the field and 25% from deep, and it’s that lack of consistency which is currently putting him in the firing line of the media critics.
Boston Faces the Lakers Next
After dropping two straight games, the Celtics will now turn their attention toward the Los Angeles Lakers, who they face on December 13, in what will be the second night of a back-to-back for the Celtics.
There is no greater rivalry in the NBA than the one between the Lakers and Celtics, so one would hope the occasion brings out the best in Boston’s players and allows them to raise their level back to what we’ve become accustomed to as they charged to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
Celtics under 22% from distance tonight. They’re shooting over 50% tomorrow night vs the Lakers aren’t they
Unfortunately for Boston, the Lakers have been trending upward recently, and Anthony Davis is having an MVP-caliber season to rival Tatum’s, so the Celtics will certainly face an uphill battle to overcome their storied rivals and stop what is starting to look like the early part of a losing streak.
Yet, in order for the Celtics to come away from Los Angeles with their pride intact, they’re going to need a stellar night from both Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and only time will tell if that’s going to happen or not.