It has actually been a while since we’ve seen this Jayson Tatum. This was takeover Tatum. This was “get out of my damn way and let me cook” Tatum. This was the guy who could pull the James Harden “I am the system.”
Tatum hasn’t been that guy much this season, partly because he hasn’t had to be. The Celtics are getting closing contributions from a lot of guys like Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday, so the pressure has been off Tatum when it comes to backpacking the Celtics to wins.
But it doesn’t mean he’s being passive or not playing well.
“His growth as a player in the last month I think has exponentially just jumped,” Joe Mazzulla said after the win in Indiana. “His patience that he's playing with on drives, his potential assist average, his screening, his ability to know that he needs his teammates to make him better … When you get to the point when you're as good as he is, people just take it for granted. I think that's the ultimate compliment.”
Sure, maybe there's some of that going on, but it’s also clear that Tatum is playing differently. Mazzulla will say it’s better, others might disagree. But no matter what side of that fence you’re on, we can all see it’s not the same.
“I want to help us win a championship,” Tatum said. “What I’m doing might not win MVP, but just trying to help us continue to be the best team in the league and do my part. And if people recognize that, they see it, I appreciate it. But if they don't, that's okay.”
That's a far cry from how Tatum has carried himself in his career. These accolades have meant something to him for a long time. And to be clear, there aren’t many guys around who truly don’t care about getting these kinds of awards. Even later in this session, Tatum was asked about his consistency and he said “I think so. First Team All-NBA two seasons in a row, so that's kind of consistent.” So it’s not like he’s found some kind of inner Buddhist peace in shedding awards and recognition.
But he’s not “going for it,” so to speak. He’s not chasing 38-point games and 15-point fourth quarters. Some nights, that won’t be there, and he’s been doing other things. On this night, the opportunity was his.
“We did a really good job at the start of the fourth just getting stops, pushing the pace, and finding matchups, reading the game,” Tatum said. “I was hitting shots, but I didn't go out there where I was like ‘I need to put the team on my back.’ It was just ‘I need to make plays,’ and whether that's myself or other guys, so be it.”
They say a team takes on the personalities of its best players, and the Celtics have been pretty open to anyone taking shots in the clutch. Maybe they're all just following Tatum’s lead, which would make a sort of ironic case for him becoming the MVP; by not caring about it and doing other things, Tatum has actually chosen the most valuable path for Boston’s success.
What Boston got on Saturday night in Indiana is the best of both worlds because there are times that Tatum is just going to have to be the best player on the floor for Boston to win a playoff game or series. As much as it’s great for him to make the right passes and plays for others, individual talent wins big games in the NBA.
“Basketball is instincts. There's a lot asked of myself,” Tatum said. “You can always go back and press pause and say what you should have done … but in that moment you gotta make the best decision. It’s all about making the right play. Sometimes the right play is being selfish at the time and going to the rim. And that's just the decisions that you have to make in those moments throughout the game.”
Tatum’s best moments have come when he’s hitting his 3-pointers. That's probably true of most elite wings in 2024 NBA basketball. Tatum has been at his worst in the past when he’s hunted those shots in an effort to get going. Over his past few games, after much has been made about his poor pull-up shooting percentage, Tatum has shifted his focus to more in-rhythm looks, and it’s paying off.
When he’s hot, he’s dominant. Again, that's probably true of most elite players. When he’s not hot, though, he’s still doing the things needed to either keep the team close or find the right guys to close things out.
Maybe Tatum is right. Maybe it won’t lead him to the MVP he’s wanted before and seems okay with not getting now. Or maybe it will be what gets him to winning one that just has the word “Finals” in front of it.
“Tonight he didn't settle,” Mazzulla said of Tatum and his 3-point shooting. “Like, if you’re gonna make them, you should shoot them. If you’re going to miss four, maybe take the fifth because you're good, but drive it.
“I think he's just learning how not to be defined by shooting. He’s being defined by his rebounding, he’s being defined by his defense, he’s being defined by the communication, being defined by screening, being defined by his ability to understand that he needs the people around him if we want to achieve what we really want to achieve. And so I think it's just the overall growth of that mindset.”