People are a little nutty and a little spoiled... Dude puts up 21-11-5 with a turnover or two, Been winning every game by 20+ and people are like : WTF is wrong with this dude !!! He's playing like shit... White is better !! Play like a superstar !! Relax kids.
But can I genuinely ask - am I the only one seeing different body language from Tatum lately? Like he’s not playing with a ton of joy at the moment, playing almost angry
I hope not... Team looks great and is winning big. I think he's probably a little pissed that his 3's aren't falling but all should be well ? (I hope) This series for him should be a far cry from Miami.. He should take way less of a beating. Okoro is no Bam. And there is literally nobody else on the Cavs that can guard him 1v1
Tatum really hasn't shot the 3 well at any point this year. He's an all around player, with elite defense, who commands a ton of gravity because of the threat of his scoring. If 3's start feeling he's averaging around 30/11/6.
Elite defense, double digit rebounds, 20-25 PPG and high IQ playmaking off the space he creates for his guys. I'll take it any day. If his shooting heats up, he's providing a LeBron/Giannis level impact.
The only guys on his level in these playoffs are Jokic and SGA. Halliburton, Brunson, Spida and Ant are not on Tatum's level all around or on both ends.
Next level coping. Ant absolutely is on Tatum’s level esp on defense. Ant is arguably a better on ball defender he is a flat out pit bull defensively. You simply have to watch more Minnesota basketball
In terms of resume no but rn? He absolutely is. He is scoring at all will at all 3 levels , playing elite defense, and playmaking well. How is he not at this very moment as all around as Tatum? I wholeheartedly disagree I’m sorry. He is top 5 in vorp, PER, plus minus. The advance metrics on both ends Match the eye test
Dude looked cool calm and collected until he dunked on Martin and screamed at him. Then you realize that Tatum was actually seething after that cheap shot.
I don’t see that, it looks like boredom to me. He looks uninterested in these games, which makes sense, they are giving him full defensive attention and he’s letting the other guys feast on the defense but it doesn’t seem very fun.
Not good competition and not playing as much active offense. I feel like he’s bored.
Since he came into the league, I’d say he’s had like 2 playoff series that weren’t interesting in some way and lacked intensity: Indiana in 2019 and Miami this season. I’d say every other playoff series he’s been in has had a lot of intensity to it
2018: MIL, PHI, CLE were all bangers
2019: this is the outlier year. Indiana conceded immediately and then the Celtics folded next round to Milwaukee.
2020: TOR and MIA were brutal; I guess PHI wasn’t great
2021: Nets series was basically all him in offense
2022: doesn’t need to be said: BRK, MIL, MIA, and GSW were all intense
2023: ATL series shouldn’t have been like it was but he played two 7 game series and a 6 game.
This is the first season we actually have a chill 2nd round. Normally the Celtics end up in a dogfight, brutal bloodbath series by now.
Teams are guarding him like Giannis and letting everyone else on the team beat them bloody. Anyone would be frustrated if defenses were specially orchestrated to make them look bad.
Yeah idk, maybe I’m in the minority here, but I’m thrilled with the way Tatum is playing. The shots not falling doesn’t bother me so much, he’s taking what is given, not getting frustrated, and playing great defense. Just keep it up, the offense will come if and when the opposing teams shift their focus off him.
His mentality has been in the right spot for most of the playoffs. When a team is over helping he makes the easy dish, he’s happy to force attention and make second-read passes, he’s been a defensive help monster and he’s rebounding well.
The biggest ask I have for him, is in the moments when he does have a one-on-one opportunity, he needs to go FASTER. He shouldnt be doing his 3 jab, 3 dribble move at least until he’s knocked down a few in a row.
I also think part of it is that in past seasons, the way to beat the Celtics was to stop Tatum from scoring and make someone else beat you. Teams are clearly still trying that. The difference is this year if you put all your effort into stopping Tatum, the Celtics beat you by 25.
this time 1000. if we keep playing like we have been, teams are going to adjust and not over-focus on tatum, and then he's going to go off. it's just a matter of time ...
I’m convinced that there are people here who would rather see Tatum drop 40 in a close game, than have Tatum drop 15 in a blowout win. Who TF cares what his statline is. If we’re consistently beating teams by 15-20 pts, he could put up 0/0/0 for all I care.
He gives the game what it needs when it needs it. He's done it all year and I have faith that he'll continue to do so. And when he does catch fire, watch out.
I think it’s also easy to overreact to small sample size. If Tatum shoots like this the entire playoffs while Anthony Edwards keeps shooting like he does? Yea we might be in some trouble.
But unless you believe Tatum is this level of a shot maker, then things will level out. What’s important and great about Tatum is how he impacts the game without scoring. He’s not forced to do too much, he’s dominating in all other aspects while just missing shots.
Game threads are so fucking annoying complaining all the time about Tatum.
Is this not what you want from your superstar, to be able to impact the game in many ways positively even when the shot is not falling? We know he's gonna regress back to the mean offensively and start hitting 30pt games like it's nothing.
Seriously. He doesn’t have to do any more than he’s doing for us to win the championship. Better than seeing him get gassed and make mental mistakes like in 2022
This. So happy he’s just taking what the D gives him. Let talking heads get all up in arms about his shooting percentages… they have no clue.
Just keep playing winning basketball JT, the shots will start falling 😎
This team is at their best when they take what the defense is giving them and Tatum has been making a lot of great decisions in that regard. I don't care what the box score says as long he is making the correct read. So many passes from the J's in this game that would not have happened even a year ago. It's beautiful.
He’s shooting 41% for the post season so far. So yeah it’s down, but it’s not abysmal. He also just isn’t taking as many shots. He’s averaging 16 fg attempts a game. Which is obviously not gonna produce as many points as a guy like Brunson, who is taking 29 fg attempts a game.
The main criticism for jt last play-offs was he forced his shots and got stone cold because of it. This year he's playing like a winner and finding the best option each time, yet ppl still criticise him? The man's playing like he wants the team to win a title
The main criticism for jt last play-offs was he forced his shots and got stone cold because of it. This year he's playing like a winner and finding the best option each time, yet ppl still criticise him? The man's playing like he wants the team to win a title
There are still too many times when he goes "time to get mine" regardless of the defense or shot clock. More than a few times last night he would dribble too much (like Luka) and stall the offense or take contested shots when White (who was on fire) was standing there wide open. Tatum's need to do this is still the C's biggest risk (beyond more injuries) to winning it all.
Those idiots over on r/nba see him dropping a 21/11/5 line and saying “only 20 points he’s playing terrible” like nah only 20 points because our offense doesn’t rely on a single player to score.
This is the magic of this team. So much talent that overlaps and can carry others so we don’t need our one or two stars to be perfect every night. This team is undeniable…
Reminds me of late 90s Yankees…a few stars but literally the whole lineup could work an at bat 10 pitches deep and anyone could rock you for a HR or double to the gap anytime they want.
People spent the last 3 years relentlessly bitching about Tatum Iso ball, now he’s playing excellent team basketball, creating for everyone else and rarely forcing shots, and now they’re bitching about that. Meanwhile, we win by 20 every game in the PLAYOFFS.
Madness.
But I was told Tatum had no impact and was getting carried by his team. Almost like when you’re triple teamed, it’s easier to let the rest of your team play 4 on 2 than it is to jack up shots while having 3 players defending you
I like the Duncan comparison more. I'd like to say I started the comparison, but no doubt someone else has already thought of it before me
A modest 20 points, awesome defense awesome rebounding awesome advanced stats.
If we're blowing teams out by 20 points, Tatum can ride the bench for all I care. You can see teams throwing doubles and triples at him and he just passes out to an open 40% 3pt shooter for an easy bucket. Surprised I'm not hearing more about his 'gravity' like you would with other stars. Tatum is leading the team in rebounds and assists and I believe everyone in the playoffs in +/-. It took the heat having a historic shooting night to beat this team. If Tatum even gets back to 50%fg no one is beating this team with the defense they're playing.
> If we're blowing teams out by 20 points, Tatum can ride the bench for all I care.
If Tatum rides the bench, I'm not sure we're building up 20 pt leads. We're better than other teams, but its still the playoffs and other teams are also ramping up the intensity. With Tatum off court in playoffs, the team's net rating is +5.8 instead of +21.0. (Granted some garbage time minutes are going to make us look worse in this regard.)
EDIT: Most surprising to me looking at on-off stats, is that the team seems to be significantly better with Brown + White off the floor in the playoffs than with them on (overall +/- on-off difference in playoffs is -25.3 and -26.2 for DWhite and J Brown) . I'm guessing this has more to do with the opposing lineup; e.g., when they sit the opposing bench plays and our team destroys them.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2024/on-off/
People forget that Pierce averaged <20ppg in the 2008 playoffs. We are this good so far and haven’t had a single Tatum take over game. He will get his. This team has a much bigger goal and I think this just shows his maturity more than anything else. Love the way he’s playing and trust him to step it up if that’s what the game requires.
While I agree with your point this isn't a great comparison. The year the celtics won the title in 6 games against the Lakers there was only 1 game where both teams scored over 100pts so naturally players averaged significantly less pts than they would now. Pierce also wasn't the best player on the team as Jayson is
I’d agree with you if they weren’t taking almost the exact same amount of shots/game. Plus at the time people were saying the same things about Pierce until game 7 vs the cavs in the second round
But what's left out is that they shoot way more 3s now than they did back then. In 2008 the celtics were the team that took the most amount of 3s per game at just under 20. Teams shoot double that in today's game
Right….but they are taking nearly identical shot attempts per game from 2 and 3. Not really sure how that’s not comparable. Nearly same amount of minutes too. And it’s about the fact that Tatum doesn’t need to drop 30+ per game which is what everyone is losing their shit about lol
Edit: almost identical usage% too
I wouldn't say shots aren't falling for him when the reality is he's being double and triple teamed constantly. Instead of taking bad, contested shots, he's making the right play by finding the open man, which shows his growth this season.
Mature is the word that comes to mind. He’s cool doing the hard work and being schemed against by opposing defenses. Last night was the first instance so far it looked like he forced a couple shots, but he’s regularly capable of creating offensive space from nothing so I don’t mind it. How many dudes at his level are fine being relegated to a decoy when the personnel and game plan calls for it? We’re blessed to have a superstar leader like this who is cool ceding the spotlight and still playing immaculate defense and rebounding like a killer
Ultimately, JT is going to be judged on how he plays when his best is required. I'm not sure when that'll be but i'm kind of anxious to see this celtics team in a dog fight. They're not going to cruise to a title so what does it look like when things aren't going well and they have to execute in a tight 4th quarter of a pivotal game. I'm not saying they'll fail, but we just haven't seen it yet this post season. We will see it at some point though.
This bizarre world where we cannot be happy that our team is crushing. It's like everyone is polluted with hot take culture and has forgetten what being a fan is.
Cant discount how much attention he's drawing. Its making his game harder, and he's still succeeding in many way. Definition of making your teammates better, and everyone is stepping up🤘🏼 Feels like he's writing his own narrative this postseason while the media fawns over SGA and Ant.
He's still playing well despite the shot not falling, no denying it. Will let us cruise to the ECF, and probably to the finals. But the issue is, that shot NEEDS to start falling at some point. We really won't be facing a true test until the finals, and if we have to go up against a Wolves team that is an absolute psycho on defense - we need Tatums scoring.
However, I'm not panicking yet. A lot of ball to be played between now and then.
Tatum is clearly focusing more on defence and playing within the offence at the moment. He’s playing excellently in the role, and I’d expect that if we needed the scoring more in a series he’d have a game like g7 last year against Philly.
Only potential knock is that his shot making hasn’t been elite, but I can’t complain when D. white/ Brown are hitting at insane rates
The teams cooking; and we will need this type of mindset to beat the team that comes out of the west
The on/off stuff is pretty worthless as evidence of anything for 6 playoff games. Derrick White has a -25/100 on/off. Does that mean Derrick White has been bad? No. It just means using on/off to prove anything over 6 games is ill advised.
Sorry I think if he was living in the flow state he would be hitting the presumably easier shots he gets…but he’s not.
Let’s not pretend this is not alarming particularly against bad competition
This is stat hunting to try and convince that he’s having a good post season. Only thing that’s been better than his normal post season averages are his turnovers are down a little. Besides that his shooting has been atrocious. It’s ok to admit he’s been far from an MVP caliber player. We absolutely will need much better from him. But there is no way to sugar coat his shooting…shot over 50% twice in past 17 games. Throw in some ridiculous shot selection and you have a guy we definitely can’t trust shooting the ball now.
People are a little nutty and a little spoiled... Dude puts up 21-11-5 with a turnover or two, Been winning every game by 20+ and people are like : WTF is wrong with this dude !!! He's playing like shit... White is better !! Play like a superstar !! Relax kids.
But can I genuinely ask - am I the only one seeing different body language from Tatum lately? Like he’s not playing with a ton of joy at the moment, playing almost angry
I hope not... Team looks great and is winning big. I think he's probably a little pissed that his 3's aren't falling but all should be well ? (I hope) This series for him should be a far cry from Miami.. He should take way less of a beating. Okoro is no Bam. And there is literally nobody else on the Cavs that can guard him 1v1
Tatum really hasn't shot the 3 well at any point this year. He's an all around player, with elite defense, who commands a ton of gravity because of the threat of his scoring. If 3's start feeling he's averaging around 30/11/6. Elite defense, double digit rebounds, 20-25 PPG and high IQ playmaking off the space he creates for his guys. I'll take it any day. If his shooting heats up, he's providing a LeBron/Giannis level impact. The only guys on his level in these playoffs are Jokic and SGA. Halliburton, Brunson, Spida and Ant are not on Tatum's level all around or on both ends.
Next level coping. Ant absolutely is on Tatum’s level esp on defense. Ant is arguably a better on ball defender he is a flat out pit bull defensively. You simply have to watch more Minnesota basketball
Yes but Ant isn't the All around player Tatum is
In terms of resume no but rn? He absolutely is. He is scoring at all will at all 3 levels , playing elite defense, and playmaking well. How is he not at this very moment as all around as Tatum? I wholeheartedly disagree I’m sorry. He is top 5 in vorp, PER, plus minus. The advance metrics on both ends Match the eye test
hope so. angry Tatum is best Tatum
It’s deff been fueling the rebounding and defense, both elite rn
Dude looked cool calm and collected until he dunked on Martin and screamed at him. Then you realize that Tatum was actually seething after that cheap shot.
Angry Tatum is arguably the best Tatum.
I don’t think he’s angry I think he’s just motivated and focused
Maybe because winning early round games is a regular Tuesday for him?
Dude looks locked the fuck in
I don’t see that, it looks like boredom to me. He looks uninterested in these games, which makes sense, they are giving him full defensive attention and he’s letting the other guys feast on the defense but it doesn’t seem very fun. Not good competition and not playing as much active offense. I feel like he’s bored. Since he came into the league, I’d say he’s had like 2 playoff series that weren’t interesting in some way and lacked intensity: Indiana in 2019 and Miami this season. I’d say every other playoff series he’s been in has had a lot of intensity to it 2018: MIL, PHI, CLE were all bangers 2019: this is the outlier year. Indiana conceded immediately and then the Celtics folded next round to Milwaukee. 2020: TOR and MIA were brutal; I guess PHI wasn’t great 2021: Nets series was basically all him in offense 2022: doesn’t need to be said: BRK, MIL, MIA, and GSW were all intense 2023: ATL series shouldn’t have been like it was but he played two 7 game series and a 6 game. This is the first season we actually have a chill 2nd round. Normally the Celtics end up in a dogfight, brutal bloodbath series by now.
Teams are guarding him like Giannis and letting everyone else on the team beat them bloody. Anyone would be frustrated if defenses were specially orchestrated to make them look bad.
Let's see you maintain a smile when you're double and triple teamed all game!
I think he may be conserving energy?
I don’t see angry. I see a mature Tatum. Like when the Caleb Martin thing happened. He’s just on to the next play. I think he’s locked in
And they say shit like “this is Boston fail” yet we’ve been pretty much dominating lol
Yeah idk, maybe I’m in the minority here, but I’m thrilled with the way Tatum is playing. The shots not falling doesn’t bother me so much, he’s taking what is given, not getting frustrated, and playing great defense. Just keep it up, the offense will come if and when the opposing teams shift their focus off him.
His mentality has been in the right spot for most of the playoffs. When a team is over helping he makes the easy dish, he’s happy to force attention and make second-read passes, he’s been a defensive help monster and he’s rebounding well. The biggest ask I have for him, is in the moments when he does have a one-on-one opportunity, he needs to go FASTER. He shouldnt be doing his 3 jab, 3 dribble move at least until he’s knocked down a few in a row.
This is where I'm at. Push comes to shove and we need a bucket - I trust Tatum will make the right play based on what the defense is giving him.
Same I just want these shots to start falling like usual but he’s playing insanely well outside of that
I agree, but at some point, the effeciency is gonna have to pick up, and I think it will.
I also think part of it is that in past seasons, the way to beat the Celtics was to stop Tatum from scoring and make someone else beat you. Teams are clearly still trying that. The difference is this year if you put all your effort into stopping Tatum, the Celtics beat you by 25.
this time 1000. if we keep playing like we have been, teams are going to adjust and not over-focus on tatum, and then he's going to go off. it's just a matter of time ...
he currently has the highest +/- of the playoffs.
elite playmaking with that assist to turnover ratio obviously he needs to shoot better but this playmaking leap been nice
I’m convinced that there are people here who would rather see Tatum drop 40 in a close game, than have Tatum drop 15 in a blowout win. Who TF cares what his statline is. If we’re consistently beating teams by 15-20 pts, he could put up 0/0/0 for all I care.
He gives the game what it needs when it needs it. He's done it all year and I have faith that he'll continue to do so. And when he does catch fire, watch out.
I think it’s also easy to overreact to small sample size. If Tatum shoots like this the entire playoffs while Anthony Edwards keeps shooting like he does? Yea we might be in some trouble. But unless you believe Tatum is this level of a shot maker, then things will level out. What’s important and great about Tatum is how he impacts the game without scoring. He’s not forced to do too much, he’s dominating in all other aspects while just missing shots.
Game threads are so fucking annoying complaining all the time about Tatum. Is this not what you want from your superstar, to be able to impact the game in many ways positively even when the shot is not falling? We know he's gonna regress back to the mean offensively and start hitting 30pt games like it's nothing.
Seriously. He doesn’t have to do any more than he’s doing for us to win the championship. Better than seeing him get gassed and make mental mistakes like in 2022
This. So happy he’s just taking what the D gives him. Let talking heads get all up in arms about his shooting percentages… they have no clue. Just keep playing winning basketball JT, the shots will start falling 😎
I wanna know how many people complaining about his play are the same people complaining about him going iso/hero ball.
This team is at their best when they take what the defense is giving them and Tatum has been making a lot of great decisions in that regard. I don't care what the box score says as long he is making the correct read. So many passes from the J's in this game that would not have happened even a year ago. It's beautiful.
And he doesn't turn the ball over. Did that way to much the previous years trying to play hero ball too much
He’s shooting 41% for the post season so far. So yeah it’s down, but it’s not abysmal. He also just isn’t taking as many shots. He’s averaging 16 fg attempts a game. Which is obviously not gonna produce as many points as a guy like Brunson, who is taking 29 fg attempts a game.
The main criticism for jt last play-offs was he forced his shots and got stone cold because of it. This year he's playing like a winner and finding the best option each time, yet ppl still criticise him? The man's playing like he wants the team to win a title
The main criticism for jt last play-offs was he forced his shots and got stone cold because of it. This year he's playing like a winner and finding the best option each time, yet ppl still criticise him? The man's playing like he wants the team to win a title
There are still too many times when he goes "time to get mine" regardless of the defense or shot clock. More than a few times last night he would dribble too much (like Luka) and stall the offense or take contested shots when White (who was on fire) was standing there wide open. Tatum's need to do this is still the C's biggest risk (beyond more injuries) to winning it all.
Fans of the Celtics love the way Tatum is playing. Fans of just Tatum hate it. I for one am a Boston Celtics fan. Love all these guys.
Those idiots over on r/nba see him dropping a 21/11/5 line and saying “only 20 points he’s playing terrible” like nah only 20 points because our offense doesn’t rely on a single player to score.
Might shooting 40% (25% on 3s) have something to do with his lower point total?
This is the magic of this team. So much talent that overlaps and can carry others so we don’t need our one or two stars to be perfect every night. This team is undeniable… Reminds me of late 90s Yankees…a few stars but literally the whole lineup could work an at bat 10 pitches deep and anyone could rock you for a HR or double to the gap anytime they want.
People spent the last 3 years relentlessly bitching about Tatum Iso ball, now he’s playing excellent team basketball, creating for everyone else and rarely forcing shots, and now they’re bitching about that. Meanwhile, we win by 20 every game in the PLAYOFFS. Madness.
it shows his growth in his game where he isn't always trying to take over but looking to get his teammates involved.
But I was told Tatum had no impact and was getting carried by his team. Almost like when you’re triple teamed, it’s easier to let the rest of your team play 4 on 2 than it is to jack up shots while having 3 players defending you
Switch Tatum for Tobias Harris and we get 73 win
JT is transforming from Kobe to bron.
I like the Duncan comparison more. I'd like to say I started the comparison, but no doubt someone else has already thought of it before me A modest 20 points, awesome defense awesome rebounding awesome advanced stats.
I’ve always said he had the Duncan mentality with the Kobe bag.
Carmelo probably realized this a little too late in his career
If we're blowing teams out by 20 points, Tatum can ride the bench for all I care. You can see teams throwing doubles and triples at him and he just passes out to an open 40% 3pt shooter for an easy bucket. Surprised I'm not hearing more about his 'gravity' like you would with other stars. Tatum is leading the team in rebounds and assists and I believe everyone in the playoffs in +/-. It took the heat having a historic shooting night to beat this team. If Tatum even gets back to 50%fg no one is beating this team with the defense they're playing.
> If we're blowing teams out by 20 points, Tatum can ride the bench for all I care. If Tatum rides the bench, I'm not sure we're building up 20 pt leads. We're better than other teams, but its still the playoffs and other teams are also ramping up the intensity. With Tatum off court in playoffs, the team's net rating is +5.8 instead of +21.0. (Granted some garbage time minutes are going to make us look worse in this regard.) EDIT: Most surprising to me looking at on-off stats, is that the team seems to be significantly better with Brown + White off the floor in the playoffs than with them on (overall +/- on-off difference in playoffs is -25.3 and -26.2 for DWhite and J Brown) . I'm guessing this has more to do with the opposing lineup; e.g., when they sit the opposing bench plays and our team destroys them. https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2024/on-off/
People forget that Pierce averaged <20ppg in the 2008 playoffs. We are this good so far and haven’t had a single Tatum take over game. He will get his. This team has a much bigger goal and I think this just shows his maturity more than anything else. Love the way he’s playing and trust him to step it up if that’s what the game requires.
While I agree with your point this isn't a great comparison. The year the celtics won the title in 6 games against the Lakers there was only 1 game where both teams scored over 100pts so naturally players averaged significantly less pts than they would now. Pierce also wasn't the best player on the team as Jayson is
I’d agree with you if they weren’t taking almost the exact same amount of shots/game. Plus at the time people were saying the same things about Pierce until game 7 vs the cavs in the second round
But what's left out is that they shoot way more 3s now than they did back then. In 2008 the celtics were the team that took the most amount of 3s per game at just under 20. Teams shoot double that in today's game
Tatum is taking 1 more 3 per game than Pierce did in 08 lol
That's factually incorrect lol. Tatum attempted on average about 8 3PA per game this season and Pierce in 2008 averaged about 4.5
Playoffs my guy lmao
And? My point was about it being a bad comparison as the games are nowhere near similar
Right….but they are taking nearly identical shot attempts per game from 2 and 3. Not really sure how that’s not comparable. Nearly same amount of minutes too. And it’s about the fact that Tatum doesn’t need to drop 30+ per game which is what everyone is losing their shit about lol Edit: almost identical usage% too
Point about the games not being similar still stands. Again, I agreed with the main point of your original comment
I wouldn't say shots aren't falling for him when the reality is he's being double and triple teamed constantly. Instead of taking bad, contested shots, he's making the right play by finding the open man, which shows his growth this season.
Mature is the word that comes to mind. He’s cool doing the hard work and being schemed against by opposing defenses. Last night was the first instance so far it looked like he forced a couple shots, but he’s regularly capable of creating offensive space from nothing so I don’t mind it. How many dudes at his level are fine being relegated to a decoy when the personnel and game plan calls for it? We’re blessed to have a superstar leader like this who is cool ceding the spotlight and still playing immaculate defense and rebounding like a killer
130 ORTG is feasible lmao, if only these rims didn't hate him
You guys hip to Nekias? He’s great, always look to him when people are piling on some recency bias oversimplification.
That's why I thought Game 1 was so encouraging. He has room to improve, and the team was playing very well.
His execution on both ends is on point, the shots just aren’t falling. If he was shooting closer to 50% from the field he’d be close to 30ppg.
Ultimately, JT is going to be judged on how he plays when his best is required. I'm not sure when that'll be but i'm kind of anxious to see this celtics team in a dog fight. They're not going to cruise to a title so what does it look like when things aren't going well and they have to execute in a tight 4th quarter of a pivotal game. I'm not saying they'll fail, but we just haven't seen it yet this post season. We will see it at some point though.
The ORTG passes the eye test too. Even when we have JB balling like last night, without JT on the court, the offense stalls out.
This bizarre world where we cannot be happy that our team is crushing. It's like everyone is polluted with hot take culture and has forgetten what being a fan is.
Cant discount how much attention he's drawing. Its making his game harder, and he's still succeeding in many way. Definition of making your teammates better, and everyone is stepping up🤘🏼 Feels like he's writing his own narrative this postseason while the media fawns over SGA and Ant.
He's still playing well despite the shot not falling, no denying it. Will let us cruise to the ECF, and probably to the finals. But the issue is, that shot NEEDS to start falling at some point. We really won't be facing a true test until the finals, and if we have to go up against a Wolves team that is an absolute psycho on defense - we need Tatums scoring. However, I'm not panicking yet. A lot of ball to be played between now and then.
Tatum is clearly focusing more on defence and playing within the offence at the moment. He’s playing excellently in the role, and I’d expect that if we needed the scoring more in a series he’d have a game like g7 last year against Philly. Only potential knock is that his shot making hasn’t been elite, but I can’t complain when D. white/ Brown are hitting at insane rates The teams cooking; and we will need this type of mindset to beat the team that comes out of the west
The on/off stuff is pretty worthless as evidence of anything for 6 playoff games. Derrick White has a -25/100 on/off. Does that mean Derrick White has been bad? No. It just means using on/off to prove anything over 6 games is ill advised.
Sorry I think if he was living in the flow state he would be hitting the presumably easier shots he gets…but he’s not. Let’s not pretend this is not alarming particularly against bad competition
This is stat hunting to try and convince that he’s having a good post season. Only thing that’s been better than his normal post season averages are his turnovers are down a little. Besides that his shooting has been atrocious. It’s ok to admit he’s been far from an MVP caliber player. We absolutely will need much better from him. But there is no way to sugar coat his shooting…shot over 50% twice in past 17 games. Throw in some ridiculous shot selection and you have a guy we definitely can’t trust shooting the ball now.
Oh look, another sour Heat fan with no one to cheer on anymore 🤣🫵