NBA: Tatum and the Celtics: Gathering Experience

Despite several injuries, the Boston Celtics are only one win away from the NBA finals. Also in game 6 against the Cleveland Cavaliers (2.30 live on DAZN) it will depend a lot on Jayson Tatum. Just like his team, the rookie has long exceeded all expectations.

One never tires of emphasizing it, it accompanies Jayson Tatum like his own shadow: Whenever the 20-year-old rookie of the Celtics has a good action or a good game in these playoffs – which often happens – the addition: “And this, although he is only a 20-year-old rookie! It’s like reminding him yourself.

Tatum is well aware of this fact. When the Celtics defeated the Sixers in the Conference Semifinals and he scored 20+ points in the fifth game for the seventh time in a row, when asked how to take on the challenge of LeBron James, he almost apologized on the court: “This is my first year. I honestly have no idea. We’ll start working on that tomorrow.”

About two weeks later, chances are pretty good that Boston can also overcome this hurdle: The Celtics only need one victory for the finals, which nobody would have guessed before the playoffs. Tatum has a key role to play in this – and now one can actually think about omitting the addition in the description of Tatum’s game.

Of course Tatum is still a rookie – the definition of that was more than chewed through this season thanks to Donovan Mitchell and Ben Simmons. But his play in the playoffs has long since left this label behind. Game 5 was another prime example: Tatum scored 24 points, shone defensively and took on any defender who stood up to him.

One of them was James – the superstar had taken Tatum off the ring badly in the first game of the season when Gordon Hayward injured himself so badly to welcome him to the NBA, now Tatum attacked the King in Transition and scored without a grim face. Much time has passed since this memorable first game in Tatum’s NBA career.

James also acknowledged this, even before game 5: “His self-control is not age-appropriate. The Celtics’ injuries made him a much better player than they had expected. He could make mistakes and learn from them without having to worry about his playing time,” said LeBron. “He’s already a very, very, very good player, and at this rate he can soon become a great player.”

Tatum’s pace of development, coupled with the stoic nature on the court, is probably the most impressive aspect of his rookie season. Before Draft, his litter and defense were considered suspect, but he had already brought both to a high level at the beginning of the season – at times he even led the NBA in the threesome, at the end of the season it was 43.4 percent.

He also played defensively much better than announced. The long arms helped, but he also understood the Celtics schema right away – Tatum can switch almost everything, barely misses rotations and plays defensively with high energy and discipline. Tatum was a valuable role-playing player for the Celtics at the start of the season, to whom Brad Stevens gave many of the minutes released by the Hayward injury without hesitation.

To hit open throws, to defend them, to sprint the fastbreak hard, that was his intended role at first, but Tatum was overqualified for it. Early on it became clear what a versatile offensive arsenal Tatum had and that he could be given the ball if you had little time on the clock and needed points.

More and more Tatum was also used as a creator, especially when Kyrie Irving was sitting on the bench. At times Tatum was already the leader of the Second Unit. Apart from the “runaway” December, Tatum’s usage rate increased every month – but the biggest leap took place from March 14 and beyond, because now Irving was suddenly out too. For the rest of the season and the playoffs, as it turned out a little later.

At that moment all expectations for the Celtics actually flew out of the window. Both star newcomers of the summer were injured, from the goal “We end LeBron’s rule in the East” it became very fast “Then the young players can gain some experience”, it was increasingly spoken of a transitional year. Boston, however, obviously had other plans and is now not far from the original goal – the second they have long since fulfilled.

The Celtics’ success in these playoffs has many causes and faces, their defense and Al Horford and Coach Stevens are at the forefront, the home advantage, “Scary” Terry Rozier, Jaylen Brown and various others have undoubtedly played their part. The Celtics come over the collective and not over one or two players who dictate everything.

And yet – it is crystallizing more and more that Tatum is her go-to-guy. Along with Horford, he is the big match-up nightmare, the offensive player for whom the opposing teams have the greatest respect. Especially in the half-field he is mostly wanted because he can work out his litter in every conceivable way and makes hardly any bad decisions.

Tatum is a strong pull-up shooter, has an impressive ball handling and is already a decent finisher on the ring – interestingly, he has the highest throwing rate if he has dribbled the ball 7+ times before (62.5 percent effective field throwing rate). He scores 3.3 points for Boston after isolations per game, even if he has to become even more effective at it. Basically he already has a good eye for which matchups he has to attack and how.

No moment seems to be too big for him – against Cleveland he is also the only Celtic of all starters who plays away as well as at home. He radiates a cold-bloodedness that is not only (!) impressive for a rookie. And he seems to get a little better with every show.

“I just like to play in those big games, those big moments,” Tatum explained after game 5. I can’t say it often enough: “We’re only one win away from the finals, and that after everything we’ve been through this season.”

It is far from guaranteed that Boston will reach the finals. Away, the Celtics have only won one play-off game so far, game 7 would be at home, but there are better chances than playing 7 against LeBron in a game. But: This Celtics team does not give the impression that it would shy away from such a prospect. Not your youngest player either.

“It’s nothing new anymore. There is no limit for him,” said Brown, his 21-year-old Wingman, after Game 5 about Tatum. “He’s not a rookie.” Actually, yes, but somehow not either.