Simone: This is the Jayson Tatum the Celtics need

BOSTON -- Talk is cheap. No matter how you look at it. Jayson Tatum wasn't good enough against the Detroit Pistons. Nothing he could have said after the game would have changed that. And social media was set ablaze.

They traded the wrong guy. Brad Stevens ruined the roster. The Boston Celtics are awful now. Well, turns out that talk was just as cheap.

Friday night against the New York Knicks spawned a different side of Tatum. The side fans expected in Detroit on Tuesday. The side Boston will need if it wants any hope of winning a ring this year (or the next, or the next).

Tatum's poor performance against the Pistons wasn't erased. It was rough. That fact remains. But Friday reminded everyone that actions speak louder than words.

"I've seen JT do that when we played against him a couple times. Took over some games like that," Mitchell Robinson said after the Celtics' 107-104 victory. "And be on the same side as it and just witness that from being on his team, it was just, it was mind-blowing."

At first, it was shaky. Tatum didn't come out firing on all cylinders. He was firing. The cylinders just took a half to fully come into their own.

The jumpers weren't there for Tatum. A 1-of-5 performance from 3-point land in the first half reflected that. And the middies weren't much better. He contributed in transition instead. Turns out, that was a good sign.

A couple of on-the-break layups set Tatum up for what became a monster third quarter. He picked the Knicks apart, driving through defenders like they were traffic cones at a driver's test circuit.

"You know when a guy is in his element," Paul George said. "I thought his dribbles were timed. His steps were timely. Nothing was out of place. Everything just seemed like it was tight, it was sharp. He didn't play around with the defender. He didn't play around with the ball. Everything was crisp. He got to his spots. And yeah, I mean that's --when a player is in that zone, it's kind of like summer. You drill that type of basketball, and you see it, and you rep it out. That's kind of just what it looked like. He was just in his element."

When he needed to pass, he passed. He read New York's pressure, spraying the ball out to teammates. But those first-half transition opportunities were a premonition. He took that downhill look and translated it to the half-court.

Pick-and-roll situations turned into Tatum splitting the defense. Back screens gave him free roads to the rim. By the time he was in a flow, he went through contact instead of finessing his way around it. That's how he earned his five free throws.

Tatum was kneading the dough of the Knicks' defense. Slowly but surely working his way through a massive shot profile. The same shot profile that -- in the results column -- failed him just a few days earlier.

Boston began the game trying to get Tatum an open off-ball look. He missed it. Then, a turnaround middy. Then, a three. And when the jumper stopped falling, Tatum found some easy ones in transition.

"I thought he had relatively good balance from his offensive shot profile and mixed it up," Joe Mazzulla said. "Like you said, had a couple cuts, had a couple transition baskets, had some threes, had some layups, in the mid-range. So, we just need that type of balance. But you got to work for it. He's got to work at it, he's got to read the game, he's got to have an understanding of that, and I thought tonight he understood that and made the right reads on the offensive end."

Friday night was how Tuesday night could have gone. Though the result mars the mind, the processes were relatively similar. The Celtics looking for Tatum off the ball. Then the jumper start coming down. Then the drives and the diversification of the shot profile.

It's all about working through a progression until Tatum can find the best way to attack a defense. Figure out what they're giving you and go for it.

"They can't take away everything, right?" Tatum said. "Even when we scout, there's certain things that, more things you're willing to live with than others. So, when you're coming down the court, you're just processing our spacing, timing of the game, what defenders they have out there. So, you're just making the right read."

The difference between Friday and Tuesday -- aside from the shots actually falling -- was the sharpness. Tatum was a bit all over the place against the Pistons. Struggling to adequately get around what is one of the most physical defenses in the league.

So, when the end of the game came around, and he was forced to take and make tough shots, he wasn't in a rhythm yet. He never got in a rhythm.

Against the Knicks, he found a place to attack. It was the drives. After those easy chances in transition, Tatum found a way to attack the rim out of the pick-and-roll.

He'd see the screen, use it, and then split two defenders trying to slow him down. It gave him a clear path to the rim, where he accepted the contact and finished strong.

Inevitably, Tatum is going to have to take tough shots. He always has. And as soon as the Celtics traded Jaylen Brown, Tatum was left as the guy to take all the tough shots.

Nights like Tuesday are the downside. Drake Maye throwing a Subway sandwich to the Seattle Seahawks in the endzone in Week 1. When you're the guy, those bumps are going to happen.

So, Tatum learned. He adjusted. He trusted his work. His history. Tatum found a way to get himself in a rhythm so that he was ready to take (and make) the tough shots against the Knicks. That's why the balance is important.

If Tatum relinquished all pull-up threes, he wouldn't be ready to make the contested triple with 30 seconds left that helped seal the game.

If Tatum stopped working the mid-range when that spot goes cold, he wouldn't be ready to nail a contested, late-shot-clock turnaround fadeaway with 50 seconds remaining to keep the Celtics ahead.

Every rep is a chance to generate a rhythm. Obviously, when the shots aren't falling, it looks ugly. That's when you get a game like Detroit. But there's a method to the madness.

Tatum's never going to be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He may never be that automatic. He doesn't have the mid-range bump fadeaway of Jalen Brunson. The off-the-dribble three of Stephen Curry. The baby-hook floater of Nikola Jokic.

When it comes to clutch shot-making, Tatum seems to be a jack of all trades, yet perhaps a master of none. That's why reading the game is so important for him. Why a diversified shot profile is essential.

Not only is Tatum seeing what the defense will be willing to give him, but he's also learning where his best shots are that night. Where he should look to shoot when the game is in the balance.

Timing is essential. Take a pull-up three with six minutes left in the first quarter. See how it feels. If the other team is on an 8-0 run to cut the Celtics' lead to two, maybe work the possession a bit more. Rhythm shots are good. Especially for a superstar. They just need to be placed in the right spot. And perhaps that's what Tatum needs to work on more than anything.

In just two games, Tatum experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly. Though the bad and the ugly were sort of rolled up into one. He's still learning this new team, this new role. And that will take time.

He has 80 games to figure that out before the playoffs. To figure out the best way to generate a scoring rhythm within the flow of a game (while also defending, rebounding, and playmaking for his teammates). On Friday against the Knicks, he did it all. Friday was Tatum at his best. Friday was the Tatum Boston needs.

Friday was a reminder. Talk is definitely cheap. So, Tatum walked the walk instead.

"JT was special," George said. "He was special from start to finish. He got to wherever he wanted to put the team on his back. Our job was to give him space, get stops. Everything was fluid. He did it effortlessly. Whatever pressure, whatever defense they showed, he had an answer for. That's the JT that we've all seen, and he's special. Kid is special."