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During the Boston Celtics December 10 loss to the Golden State Warriors, Jayson Tatum struggled to make a legitimate impact, leading fans to speculate that the superstar wing was playing nervously.
“It was entirely mental. You could see him consistently mistiming his jumps or stance defensively, offensively super hesitant with passes leading to miscommunications, and obviously his shot wasn’t falling. The effort was there. It just really felt like he was nervous and in his head the whole time, which, I don’t think we’ve seen in any other game this season,” Reddit user ThePhotogenicPotato wrote on December 11.
Tatum, 24, failed to implement his will in Boston’s loss to the Warriors, shooting just 28.6% from the field and 22.2% from deep during 39 minutes of gameplay, as he struggled to counter the Warriors’ impressive defense that was designed to minimize his impact on the game.
It’s worth remembering that Tatum also struggled against the Warriors during the NBA Finals, a fact that has remained fresh in the mind of Celtics fans and potentially led to some of the rhetoric surrounding his perceived nerves during Boston’s latest contest against the reigning NBA champions.
Kendrick Perkins Believes Tatum Played Scared
Shortly after Boston’s loss to the Warriors, former Celtic and current NBC and ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins took to Twitter to share his thoughts on Tatum’s underwhelming performance.
“Once again the Warriors reminding my big dumb a** that it’s LEVELS to the s***. I mean they are KICKING the Celtics a** if great fashion. Tatum looked scared as hell tonight! Y’all stay out my mentions and Carry the hell on…,” Perkins tweeted.
While Tatum may have struggled to impact proceedings against the Warriors, he has been playing at an MVP level throughout the first quarter of the season, averaging 30 points, 8.1 rebounds, four assists, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 56.3% from two-point range and 36% from deep – so, it’s fair to assume that Tatum’s uncharacteristic performance was nothing more than a blip on what’s turning out to be a career season for him across the board.
Tatum Accepts Blame For Poor Performance
Speaking to the media following Boston’s December 10 loss, Tatum accepted that he was to blame for his poor performance against the Warriors, noting that he has to be better moving forward.
“27 games, 24 of them have been great, and you know, two or three off nights. I just gotta be better. I missed a lot of lay-ups, missed some open threes, things like that. So, you know, there’s nobody to blame, you know, but myself. I gotta be better to help the team win. So, you know, it’s not anything on the coach’s or anything like that,” Tatum said.
Tatum will be hoping that he can produce a better showing for the Celtics on December 12, when the team will face the LA Clippers in the third game of their current West Coast road trip before they have to turn their attentions toward another grudge match, this time against the Los Angeles Lakers. But, as Tatum would say, let’s take this one game at a time.
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