Jayson Tatum stayed in the game this time. Literally.
Joe Mazzulla shared that Tatum asked to not exit for typical regular season rest in the second half of the Celtics’ 117-107 win on Saturday as the Suns rallied to within five points midway through the fourth quarter.
Tatum turned a second unit stretch to close the third after Brown left the floor, playing pick-and-roll with Luke Kornet and finding Jrue Holiday for three after grabbing an offensive rebound to help the Celtics rebuild a nine point lead after a four minute offensive drought. Tatum stayed aggressive after a 3-for-10 first half.
That contrasted his effort on Thursday in Denver, passive, despite a similarly sloppy stat line, including 11-for-28 (39.3%) shooting from the field, only two free throw attempts, 10 rebounds, seven assists and four turnovers. Tatum walked off the floor saying he stunk it up, giving the ball away early, before regaining control in the fourth quarter in part by doing more little things than he did in the Nuggets loss. Officiating, Nuggets blitzes and physicality seemed to take him out of that Suns loss while Saturday saw the return of his more rounded effort.
“It felt like I was getting into a rhythm at some point,” Tatum said. “I would make a couple shots, then miss 3-4 and the game was starting to get competitive. I just wanted to stay in. I don’t really say that many times … this might’ve been the second time I did it all season. It’s a feel thing. We trust each other.”
The problem two nights earlier for Tatum didn’t stem from his 5-for-13 shooting, saying after that game that he had to step aside to let Jaylen Brown cook. Brown didn’t hesitate to highlight the real issue. Tatum struggled immensely handling Denver’s defensive scheme that pressured him and threw aggressive help behind the blitz. He turned it over five times and became an unreliable initiator, and those struggles stretched to other areas. Tatum only grabbed three defensive rebounds and failed to rotate onto Aaron Gordon on his decisive slam. He also received a wide open corner three with a chance to redeem himself in the final minute trailing by two and missed.
With criticism at its highest all season following losses and late letdowns in consecutive national TV games, Tatum returned to ABC and didn’t press. Even going against rival star Kevin Durant and idol Bradley Beal. Both Suns stars put on stellar performances, Durant pouring in 45 points and storming Phoenix back from a deficit that reached 15 before halftime. Beal played point guard with Devin Booker out and scored 25 with four assists. Boston needed extra help on the boards too, Jusuf Nurkic averaging 17.0 rebounds per game recently and grabbing five offensive boards against the Celtics’ front line that lacked Kristaps Porzingis (hamstring).
“He just asked me if he could stay in the game, and I said yeah,” Mazzulla said.
Where Tatum would normally rest to begin the fourth, he joined Brown, who he actually aided in a scorching effort by remaining a threat. Brown scored 27 points on 10-for-21, pacing Boston’s offense through Tatum’s early struggles and both of their aggression spread the Suns’ defense thin as they rotated weaker defenders like Bol Bol and Eric Gordon into the game. Brown fed Payton Pritchard and Derrick White hit Tatum for threes when Phoenix went zone as an answer, only to fall behind by 13 when Brown ran a misdirection out-of-bounds that freed Kornet for a slam from Brown. Pritchard and Tatum spaced Bol and Beal out of the play.
Brown and Tatum each converted three-point plays against mismatches on the ensuing possessions to increase that lead to 15 before Durant took over again. Tatum turned the ball over twice again and missed a pair of step-through looks at the basket, but made up for one with a steal on Durant defending in the lane and driving for a dunk. Durant answered with five straight points and Tatum missed a three, the Celtics narrowly avoiding a two-point game late when Durant broke out and missed a wide open three trailing by five following Beal’s steal on White. Boston called timeout and got back into a flow offensively, attacking Beal to draw Brown free throws. He missed both, and Tatum missed his ensuing shot over Grayson Allen, so the Celtics lined up Jrue Holiday in the pocket for what became the decisive three from Al Horford in the corner, who overcame an 0-for-6 start.
The performance by no means thrust Tatum back into MVP conversations. Nor did it totally quell concerns about his offensive consistency and the Celtics’ ability to avoid lulls when running the offense through him. The relief came in seeing Tatum comfortably navigate what could’ve became a third straight bad finish, trusting teammates like White, who dished nine assists in a more involved offensive role, while still making himself a threat. That’s the Tatum who began earning trust as the top option on a championship team because of the talent around him, not his ability to out-duel Durant and Beal individually. It amounted to a better collective effort alongside Brown.
“I’ve said it before, regardless of how great I play or I don’t, I never get too down or too high,” Tatum said. “Whatever people are saying, I respect it, people have a job to report on the things that we do, things that we say, how we play. So I never take those things personally. Yesterday, I got to play 18 holes of golf, get some sun, enjoy time with the guys outside and try to get away from it mentally. Today, we bounced back in a positive way.”
