Picks 'n Pops: Tatum's worst shot, the tournament curse, and an absolute embarrassment

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because a human being can only watch Elf so many times in a row.

- From the people who brought you “Hey Jayson Tatum, stop the isolation plays because you’re not good at them,” comes today’s hottest hit: “Hey Jayson Tatum, stop taking pull-up 3-pointers because you’re not good at them.”

Tatum takes almost six of those per game and he’s hitting about 29% of them, a ridiculously bad percentage made worse by the volume at which he takes them. And it’s nothing new. He took about five of them last year and shot 29%. He shot 33.4% the year before on five attempts, which is better but not great. 

We have to go back to the 2020-21 season to start finding any real success, when Tatum shot 36.3% on 5.4 attempts per game. He shot 40.7% on 5.9 attempts in ‘19-20, his one and only good season shooting pull-up 3-pointers. 

The sample size is big enough where it’s pretty clear that Tatum should stop taking them so often. He takes about as many as Steph Curry and he shoots 9% less. He’s the worst in the league of the high-volume pull-up 3-point shooters (five or more). 

I know he’s going to have to shoot it sometimes because they have to respect that he’ll take it, but how about maybe keeping it to two per game and spend those other three or four times doing something more productive?

- I’m all for not calling a timeout at the end of regulation versus the Warriors. Once they decided to attack and keep Steph Curry and Chris Paul on the floor, they were in it to win it. 

It was a tie game and the ball was in Tatum’s hands. Calling a timeout there would have been embarrassing to Tatum. No star has his coach call a timeout to get the ball out of his hands. 

Go ahead, scream all you want. But do you want a 21-6 start to the season marred by Stephen A. Smith and Colin Cowherd screaming about why Joe Mazzulla doesn’t trust his star all day long? Do you want that kind of media scrutiny during a great start to the season?

They lost, and for many reasons beyond that play. But that play sucked and everyone knows it. Take Tatum aside in a film session and blast him there. Sit next to him on the team bus and tell him not to do that again. Do it anywhere but the middle of the floor of a TNT game. 

This isn't college. This isn’t high school. Like it or not, this is how you manage personalities in the NBA.

- Thanks to the Lakers for taking the In-Season Tournament Championship for a test drive. I think we’ve found out that the champagne celebration looks ridiculous, the banner is laughable, and the thing might be cursed. 

The Lakers are 1-5 since winning the In-Season Tournament, including four losses in a row. Maybe they were due for this skid anyway, or maybe they put a lot of effort into winning it and immediate return to normal regular season play is giving them the bends. 

I will be fair, though. The NBA set up the champagne thing and the banner to give the tournament some legitimacy. But they're the Lakers so in this area code, we blame them for everything. 

- The Clippers have been impressive lately (the loss to OKC notwithstanding), but I think the Celtics can win fairly easily if they play fast. They need to play at the pace they played to beat the Magic without Kristaps Porzings, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet. Do that, and they can win by double digits.

- Hey, Oshae Brissett, just because you’re not getting a lot of opportunities at your job, don’t come trying to steal mine.

- I was asked a question on Twitter: What will happen first - A Pistons win or a Celtics home loss? Then I looked at the schedule and wouldn’t you know it, the Pistons visit the Celtics on Thursday, December 28, the first game back after a long west coast swing. 

Oh no. 

- This Piston’s streak is so, so much worse than anything the Process Sixers did because those teams were trying to lose. The Pistons are supposed to be trying to win. They paid Monty Williams a ton of money to get this team to start winning. That the can’t is one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever seen in the NBA. 

- This also gives some credence to the reports that Williams refused the Pistons multiple times until their offer just got too big to refuse. I don’t know if his heart was ever fully into it. 

- Do NOT, under any circumstances, enter the dunk contest, Jaylen Brown. You are a freak athlete who can dunk on many people, but you are a classic in-game dunker not a contest guy. You can raise your profile much more by hinting and not participating, LeBron James style, than going into it and falling victim to the frivolity of it all. Don’t do it. 

- Tatum’s shot was the only bad one in this sequence:

I get that Tatum was playing with a bad ankle, so my question is why he didn’t ask for a pick to help him get free? I respect playing at less than 100%, but it doesn't mean you have to play the exact same way. 

- Mike Brown called every timeout he had and it didn’t work for the Sacramento Kings. If your reaction is to say “well at least he tried something” then you don’t really want timeouts to change the game. You want timeouts to feel better about what you’re watching. 

- Yeah, I need to get into shape like the rest of us at this time of year. Maybe I’ll just do what Jake Gyllenhaal did and get cast in an action movie. 

Is ... is anyone here casting an action movie? 

- RIP Eric Montross. Also RIP Ryan Boulay, my sister’s husband, who lost his battle with pancreatic cancer last week. F Cancer. 

- I think Giannis Antetokounmpo should just get every game ball from now on and be forced to carry the bag full of them for the whole season. 

- I hope Ja Morant understands why he was suspended. I can’t help but get the feeling that he does not.

- The Suns might never get fully healthy.

- The current NBA Belt Champion: The Philadelphia 76ers

- My AI image of the week: I asked Bing’s AI image creator to show me Celtics fans panicking over an “L”

I think it’s a masterpiece. Clearly I think the reaction to the loss in Golden State was a bit much. 

- Here’s my latest podcast, if you’re bored: