After the Boston Celtics polished off their blowout win over the Houston Rockets, head coach Ime Udoka was asked what was behind Jayson Tatum’s recent four-game explosion — over which he is averaging 33.5 points per game.
“Shot making,” he bluntly said. “I mean, the shots that he was getting, he's knocking them down now.”
The numbers support that to a degree. There is an element to Tatum’s game that is simply good shots starting to fall. Over his first 14 games, Tatum averaged 23.5 points on 38.6% shooting. Over the last four, the scoring has jumped 10 full points and he’s hitting half his shots.
Over his first 14 games, Tatum was 5-14 (35.7%) on wide-open 3-pointers. He’s hit 3-6 over the last four games. In general from 3, Tatum was shooting 31.6% overall over his first 14 games, and those 3s accounted for 36.7% of his offense. Now, he’s hitting 38% of his 3’s over the last four games (16-42), and they make up 45.7% of his offense.
Tack onto that some better shooting on his drives (+10% over the last 4) and in the midrange (+15.5%) and yes, the coach is right about the shots just starting to fall. But also...
“Being extra aggressive, I think, attacking the basket a little bit more,” he added. “Getting more free throws that happened over the last few games.”
The aggressiveness stands out as Tatum’s biggest improvement over this recent stretch.
Over his last four games, Tatum is making 73.9% of his baskets in the restricted area, up from 52% over the first 14. His attempts at the rim are only up slightly (5.4 to 5.8 per game), but his makes are up significantly (2.8 to 4.3). Some of that is a recent increase in breakaway dunks courtesy of Boston’s improved defense.
Add to that 2.4 more free throws per game (4.9 to 7.3), an uptick in his shooting at the line (76.7% to 89.7%) and nearly three full points of Tatum’s 10 point scoring increase is coming from the line.
So he’s adjusting some of his shot profile, taking some more 3-pointers, getting to the line more, and just shaking off his overall funk. That's all well and good, but there has to be a mental aspect there as well. He’s clearly realizing the adjustments necessary to play this kind of game.
Tatum is often accused of lacking some level of fire. He is generally reserved, especially in the media, saving his emotions for complaining about foul calls. But they’re in there.
“(Just) being competitive and trying to win at all costs,” he recently said. “I might not be the most emotional person, but when I step on the floor, I don’t care if it’s Brad Beal – like, I’m trying to go at him. And that’s somebody I grew up with. I think that’s a mentality that you have when you step on the floor, it’s my team against yours. After the game it’s whatever. But these 48 minutes, I ain’t got nothing for you.”
That mentality was born a couple of seasons ago for Tatum. We remember him going off after being named to his first All-Star team and then having a great post-break stretch. The confidence to raise his game can be traced back to that weekend.
“I think, honestly, in my third season when I made my first All-Star game and I was in the locker room with LeBron, KD, Harden, Kawhi, I think that was the first time in my career that I felt like I belonged in the room,” he said. “Obviously those guys have accomplished so much more and have played longer and things like that. But I was in the locker room with them, I was on that team. And I think ever since then, I’ve taken that approach of ‘I belong in that locker room from now on.’ Whether anybody else believes it, I always tell myself when I get on the floor that I’m the best player. And I just remember vividly from that game and I’ve kept that mentality with me.”
Not only does something like that give a player the confidence on the court, it gives a player the confidence to work through problems and cold stretches. Tatum has turned a corner right now for the Celtics, and it’s no coincidence that the team is on a roll.
It might be too much to ask him to average 35 points a game the rest of the way, but more important than the numbers he puts up is the style of play. Cold stretches will happen, but if he uses that confidence to keep pushing through the slumps and continue to do other things until the touch returns, the team will be fine.
“(He’s) still doing what he did early, getting the same shots that he was missing that we knew would flip eventually,” Udoka said. “But he's also finding guys passing the ball extremely well. So very well-rounded games, in general. The scoring is there because of the made shots but we never overreacted to that in the first place."