Jayson Tatum is one of the most accomplished players in the NBA. He finally got the monkey off his back last year by winning his first NBA title. That hasn’t stopped people from criticizing him, though, even as he put together arguably his best season to date. Now that Tatum’s Celtics are struggling against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semis, those criticisms are getting even louder.
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After Boston blew their second straight 20-point home lead to the Knicks last week, Celtics legend Paul Pierce came on The Herd to talk to Colin Cowherd about the state of the team.
Cowherd told Pierce that, although he believes Tatum is a great player, he can’t put him near the Michael Jordans, Kobe Bryants, or even Paul Pierces of the world because he’s too deferential in his play.
“I understand the fascination and the analytics and Brad Stevens building a three-point shooting roster. But at some point, [MJ, Kobe and Pierce] would have said, ‘Guys, I’m getting a basket.’ I think Jayson is too collaborative. Dude, grab the ball and take it to the basket, four or five times in a row.”
Pierce had no choice but to agree, and he pointed to a difference in mentality as the reason why. “Talent can take you so far, I get it, but mentality can take you further. The guys that you talk about have it all the time and never cut it off. Sometimes I feel like [Tatum] goes away, he forgets about it, and he has to be constantly reminded to be that way.”
The Celtics need Jayson Tatum’s scoring to repeat as champs
Tatum impacts the game in more ways than just putting the ball in the hoop. He had a career-high 6.0 assists per game this year and recorded 8.7 rebounds per game. He’s also just as important to the C’s defensive identity as Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford.
The six-time All-Star is filling up the box score against the Knicks, but when the Celtics have needed a basket to stop a Jalen Brunson-led run, he’s mostly been unable to get one. He had a chance to win Game 2 but got stuffed right before time expired, and he’s scoring 7.5 points less than his season average through three games while never shooting above 40%.
That’s why the Celtics are down 2-1. In order to climb out of that hole and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, they’ll need Tatum to start taking control offensively to prove Cowherd and Pierce and everyone else wrong. He’ll have a huge chance to do it tonight when Game 4 takes place at Madison Square Garden at 7:30 p.m. ET.
