Getty Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics defends LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Jayson Tatum received a lot of flak for his performance in the 2022 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Tatum’s performance in the decisive Game 6, in which he scored 13 points while shooting 6-for-18 from the floor while turning the ball over five times, has particularly The ongoing harsh criticism of Tatum’s performance has not sat right with LeBron James. On the most recent episode of his show Uninterrupted, LeBron came to the defense of the Boston Celtics star, praising his skills as a basketball player while saying the best is yet to come from him.
“Jayson Tatum is a beast. He didn’t play to his standards, but to the regular s*** standards that everybody, only people that’s comfortable. Like, man, he had a hell of a season, and that guy’s not even 25 yet. He’ll be back. He got nothing to hang his hat on.”
LeBron later compared Tatum’s performance in the NBA Finals to his first experience in the NBA Finals back in 2007 against the San Antonio Spurs.
“He played against the same team of my first finals. I played against the Spurs. It’s the same s***. The same s***.” And they took advantage of me not knowing much.”
“Jayson Tatum is a beast.” 💪🏾
@KingJames took issue with the criticism of @jaytatum0 during the playoffs and those who criticize while never risking anything themselves.
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James was 22 years old when he took the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals. During that series, LeBron averaged 22 points, seven rebounds, and 6.8 assists a game while shooting 35.6 percent from the field and 20 percent from three as the Cavaliers were swept.
Because LeBron was so young, and because the Cavaliers made it to the NBA Finals in a year when experts didn’t expect them to before the season started, LeBron didn’t get criticized much. However, that was not the case when he made his second finals appearance in 2011.
LeBron was Heavily Criticized During the 2011 NBA Finals
When LeBron joined forces with his pals Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to play for the Miami Heat in 2010, many expected them to win a title. However, LeBron’s lackluster performance during the 2011 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks garnered plenty of criticism on his end. During that series, James averaged 17.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 6.8 assists while shooting 47.8 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from three.
Game 4, in particular, was where LeBron’s struggles reared their ugly head. James scored eight points while shooting 3-for-11 from the field and turning the ball over four times.
That series, to this day, is considered to be among LeBron’s greatest playoff failures. Nonetheless, he went on to win four NBA championships while making the NBA Finals eight straight times from 2011 to 2018. There’s no telling if Tatum will do the same, but he is taking a humble approach following the biggest loss of his career.
Tatum Vows He’ll Be Back
On July 13, 2022, Tatum opened up a Q&A on his personal Twitter account. Among the many questions that Tatum asked, one asked point blank why he “stunk” against the Warriors. Tatum had a very direct but very humble response to the question.
“Get knocked down 9 times, get up 10,” he responded.
@Edwinthedice Get knocked down 9 times get up 10
All-time NBA players had to deal with failures at some point during their careers. Neither LeBron James nor Tatum’s idol, Kobe Bryant, were immune from that. Tatum just dealt with the biggest failure of his young career thus far, and the masses will get to see how he responds in the coming years.