Brian Scalabrine saw it coming. Early in the Celtics win over Chicago, he said this felt like a game where Jayson Tatum could take over and dominate. Tatum hadn’t done much at that point, but Scal kept insisting.
Then Tatum started doing things that felt special. He drained a 30-foot 3-pointer. He got position on Coby White at the restricted circle, spun, and dunked it. He spun baseline and drew a foul on rookie Matas Buzelis. By halftime, he was up to 16 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.
Maybe Scal knows what he’s talking about?
“I play a lot of games in my life. It’s a feel thing,” Tatum said after the game. “You find moments where the defense opens up. You attack. You read what they're doing. If they’re blitzing the ball screen three times in a row, you got to make the right read so it opens up.”
That's the Tatum way. It’s a strict adherence to Joe Mazzulla’s plan of reading the game and doing the right thing, not just the right thing for him. Sometimes it’s taking a back seat to Jaylen Brown, who started the game strong and looked to be on his way to a big night. Other times, though, those two things are the same.
“We got so many guys that can do so many things offensively, it's just all about finding your moments to dominate the game,” Tatum said. “Joe always just tries to get me to dominate and amplify my teammates and make guys better in different ways.”
Tatum managed to do all of it in every way in Chicago, scoring 43 points on 24 shots while dishing 10 assists and clearing 16 rebounds. No one in all of Boston’s incredible history has put up a 40/15/10 triple-double. And while 12 players in NBA history have done it, Tatum is the only one to do it in less than 36 minutes of playing time.
I think that qualifies as dominating.
“Sometimes you have to tell him to be himself, and he does a really good job of balancing that,” Mazzulla said. “But there's nights where I can tell that he's in a different groove, and you just kind of work to give it to him. And I thought it was one of those nights, and he took advantage of it.”
Tatum probably could have sat out the whole fourth quarter, which would have left him shy of the triple-double. He didn’t need it for this to be considered a dominant performance, but we love the label. But him going back into the game wasn’t his idea. He has never been one to lobby for stats. If he was, this wouldn’t have been just his first triple-double of the season. He’s had three games this season where he’s fallen a rebound or assist short.
“He's not like a PR player. He doesn't do everything just for PR,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “He actually plays the right way. He doesn't need to always score 50. He’s hungry for winning, and there's a big difference.”
That difference shows up in things like ESPN’s MVP straw poll, where Tatum was fourth behind Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Nikola Jokic. It’s hard to argue that he should be above any of those players in the MVP race because they are all the unquestioned centerpieces of their franchises. Tatum doesn’t have to do what they do, so his monster nights are more infrequent.
“He's been doing it for such a long time, and he's on a really good team, and I think that hurts him sometimes,” Mazzulla said. “But his ability to do what he does on a great team, I think says more about who he is as a player.”
Tatum is capable of a lot, but that's exactly why he doesn’t always put up these gaudy numbers. The Celtics need the threat of Tatum to help open things up for all the other talented players on the floor. Between him and Brown, Boston’s top players are as much creators as they are scorers. Tatum especially has put the pursuit of individual plaudits on the back burner because he knows that while games like this get a lot of attention, chasing games like this can ruin what the Celtics have built.
“We have so many talented players that I’m probably not going to put up some of the same numbers as those other guys, and that's perfectly fine with me,” Tatum said. “Especially with what we did in June last year. That's the main goal here. Not for me to win MVP, but for us to play at a high level and compete for a championship year in and year out.
“If I accomplish that along the way, then that would be amazing, but the main goal is for everybody to feel involved and everybody to play a part in us doing something special.”