Jayson Tatum rose up behind a Marcus Smart screen, taking a pass from Robert Williams for an in-rhythm 3-pointer, and something happened that he hadn’t seen in a long time.
The shot went in.
Tatum flung his shooting hand back up above his head, his eyes gazing skyward in a very obvious “it’s about damn time” way.
“I think as a scorer, especially when you're kind of in a slump, to see that first shot, that first three go in, you kind of get it off your back and the game kind of just opens up,” Tatum said, rolling his shoulders as he explained it, as if to mime the pressure finally rolling off his back. “Then obviously when you get in that zone, there's nothing like it and you just keep going.”
It’s hard to overstate how much Tatum’s slump has played into Boston’s record. The Celtics are 6-10 in games where Tatum makes 1 or zero 3-pointers. They're 16-12 in the rest. They're 12-7 when he shoots just 30% or better.
Even if we use the 16-12 record and say Boston is winning 57% of their games where Tatum makes two or more 3-pointers, it’d be a winning percentage that would put them just behind sixth-seeded Philadelphia and their .578.
So when Tatum walked into the building with a “Believe In Yourself” shirt, it was a message to himself, even if it was a subliminal one, to just keep shooting.
𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. pic.twitter.com/rwy0sYDekw
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 23, 2022
“I wasn't discouraged or anything. It's like shots I've been taking my whole life. I've scored 50 a bunch of times now — a handful of times,” Tatum said. “Those times when you're missing shots, it's like you know what you're capable of and sometimes you gotta laugh it off. It's as simple as sometimes you don't make shots. You play so many games, it's bound to happen every once in a while.”
But this stretch -- 20 misses in a row -- was starting to creep beyond “aberration” territory. This was starting to look like more than just some slump. Part of the problem for Tatum was that he had been forced into more of a facilitator role, and that seemed to be making things uncomfortable. The return of Smart, and a focus by his point guard to make sure the star of the team got rolling, helped snap something back into place.
“That was my main focus for everybody, especially JT. Block the noise,” Smart said. “When you go out there and you just let basketball do the plan, do the talking, and you worry about basketball, things tend to work themselves out. Just believe in the work that you put in. You put in all this hard work and all this time. It wasn’t for nothing. Believe in it. Just go out there and do it. And he shook my hand, gave me a hug, and said ‘yeah, I appreciate it.’ And he ended up with 50 plus.”
The beauty of Tatum’s night is that it was more than just a hot night from 3. Of course, draining nine triples is going to help, but the next two shots Tatum took after that first 3-pointer falling were layups. Tatum didn't settle or try to get rolling from deep. He made that 3, he had his reaction, and then he set about dismantling the Wizards' defense.
“Aggressive from the start,” Ime Udoka said. “It’s a different game when shots fall. He takes the ones he’s gonna take. You’re not gonna stay in that slump forever, obviously got off to a really good start. Some of the things they do defensively we wanted to exploit, but he came out with the mindset to be aggressive, get downhill to the basket, and he made some early. Obviously, the basket opened up early for him.”
But the story of the night for Boston and for Tatum is the end of his slump. Now the next question for Tatum is whether this can be part of a prolonged turnaround.
The Celtics have a lot of issues they need to work through this season, but they always needed Tatum and Jaylen Brown to both carry this team through those rough patches. For various reasons, that's only happened occasionally.
If Tatum can get his shooting touch back to simply normal, especially if it coincided with high-level play from Brown, the Celtics might be able to string more than a couple of wins together.
For Tatum, the attitude he’s carried with him after the worst shooting nights is what he’s relying on to keep him rolling with the good times.
“I'm always the same person, whether I miss 20 straight or I score 51,” he said. “It's just on to the next one and it's as simple as that. You don't get too down on yourself and don't get too excited, cause at the end of the day, it's just one win and we got another one coming up on Tuesday.”
