On a recent episode of All the Smoke’s KG: Certified, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce had a segment, appreciating the Boston Celtics’ impressive performance this campaign. The two legends of the franchise deep-dived into the aspects that Jayson Tatum and co. were doing correctly. While Garnett highlighted the resilience with which the team has been playing this year, Pierce shed light on their changed attitude.
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Kevin Garnett was known for being the hardest worker during his playing days. Not only would he expect himself to perform at the highest level, but KG would also demand his teammates to play with grit. Being someone who appreciates the game approached with the utmost determination, the Big Ticket could not stop gushing over the grit that Joe Mazzulla’s boys were playing with.
“Boston’s best players look tougher. Jayson Tatum… he playing through people. Jaylen too. They both are playing with grit, like a presence. You go in there ‘I know you little. You little. Little a** n***a’. That’s how they look like they playing,” Garnett said.
Paul Pierce lauded the Cs for playing with belief. According to Pierce, he can see the team feel like they can win it all. Even when some of their key players are sidelined with injuries, their performance does not witness any “drop off”.
“I am seeing them playing with the edge now. They believe that they can win it all… When they have a player out, say Porzingis is not playing or Tatum’s not playing, they still feel like they can win the game… I’m not really seeing a lot of drop off when somebody sit out,” Pierce claimed.
The Truth also mentioned the two aspects that the Celtics have improved on. First, the Celtics have become one of the best rebounding teams in the league, improving by leaps and bounds as compared to the previous season. Further, JT and co. are playing significantly better when playing at home, an issue that they couldn’t resolve during the 2023 postseason.
“They rebounding the ball at a high level, which they didn’t do last year… I think they made a point of that after losing all them games in the playoffs at home, they lost three games to Miami at home in the playoffs… I think they established in their mind they gon’ come back and gotta make home a dominant place,” Pierce said.
The former teammates are not at all wrong with their analysis. The Boston Celtics have been the best team in the NBA with a 32-9 record and among others, the above-mentioned factors are responsible for the success. With Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown leading the offense, the Cs have the third-highest offensive rating (120.4) in the NBA.
Whereas, the new addition of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis has led to the team being #2 in the defensive rating (110.4).
Kevin Garnett has lauded Jayson Tatum all season long
The Boston Celtics began their impressive win streak as soon as the season commenced. Right from the get-go, Jayson Tatum established himself as the best player on the best team in the NBA. While the likes of Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and others, were having better individual performances, Kevin Garnett displayed his faith in JT. Back in November, the 2008 champ dubbed the former Duke Blue Devil as the “best American player” and backed him to win the MVP.
Before the 2023-2024 season tipped off, the 25-year-old had an in-depth discussion about his leadership style. While revealing to be ready for a challenge, the multiple-time All-Star stated that he wouldn’t be the type of leader to scream on the court. Breaking his statements down, Tatum admitted that he could never adopt Garnett’s leadership style.
“When I need to, I make sure my voice is heard. And I do it in my own way. I’m not going to be out there jumping up and down screaming. That’s just not my personality.….. I lead in my own way. I’m never going to be Kevin Garnett,” Tatum said.
So far, Jayson Tatum has found immense success. Averaging 27.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game, the three-time All-NBA player has led his team to the best record in the NBA.
