Tatum continues to impress many
Rookie is ‘special’
PHILADELPHIA — Lost in the confetti and improbability of a 3-0 series lead was something truly improbable in the life of Jayson Tatum.
The Celtics rookie, who is turning out to be the purest shooter in the 2017 draft, missed three straight free throws in Game 3 yesterday — two with 4:19 left in regulation and the score tied, and the first of two with 2:33 left in overtime, the crowd howling, and the Celtics down by two.
The next time Tatum touched the ball, he drove to cut the Philly lead to two points, and when Ben Simmons scored, he drove again to make it a two-point game. The Celtics went on to win, 101-98.
Most shooters have short memories, but Tatum has a kind of basketball amnesia. That’s part of the reason that in the biggest win of the season, he led the team with 24 points on 11-for-17 shooting.
“Never want to miss free throws, especially that late in a game, but there was a lot of game left and I knew I couldn’t put my head down,” he said. “Had to get back and get a stop, get back and score. I just looked forward to the next play. Just try and be as consistent as possible.
“We’re a unique team,” he said. “Every night a different guy is going to lead us in scoring. We just need to take the right shots. The way our offense is set up, everyone is moving and cutting. We always look to make the extra pass.”
Tatum’s older teammates — in other words all of them — have certainly taken notice of his role in that mix.
“Man, he’s special,” said Marcus Morris. “We’ve been saying that all year. That dude is special. He comes through in the clutch, he has no fear. He’s playing big-time basketball.”
Harm, but no foul?
Joel Embiid was his usual overpowering self for the 76ers with a 22-point, 19-rebound double-double that included six offensive boards. Aron Baynes, who picked up three quick fouls in the first half and ended up with five, was his most notable victim — absorbing one particularly brutal dunk by Embiid in the second quarter that turned into a three-point play.
But Embiid had his eyes on the foul total of someone else — Al Horford.
“I don’t see how anyone can guard me and get zero fouls,” said the Sixers center.
Familiar tactic
Sixers Nation has been on a painful alert since Simmons’ one-point performance in Game 2 — a cause the rookie didn’t help with the bad pass that led to Horford’s game-winning free throws. All of that angst led Brett Brown to ask for a little patience yesterday.
The bodies the Celtics have thrown at the rookie point guard in this series remind the Sixers coach of how teams guarded another young star when he first came into the league.
“I’m going to be redundant until this Celtics thing is over,” said Brown. “If you take just the fact that they have individual elite defensive players, then you put them into a pretty good team environment, and then like an early offense, first 4-6 seconds of the shot clock, there’s Aron Baynes or Horford at the foul line area, it’s LeBron (James).
“That’s what we did to LeBron his first seven years in the league,” he said, referring to his time as a Spurs assistant. “You have to show him a crowd. He’s got to see five sets of somebody’s jersey. And that’s what the Celtics are doing well. It’s not new, they just do it well, and they have excellent individual defensive players that’s put into a solid team environment.
“Let’s just start with he hasn’t shot from many parts of the floor this year. It’s not like, ‘Oh let’s take away the elbow.’ That’s not who he is right now, yet he still found a way to impact the game.”
And, as Brad Stevens quickly pointed out, guarding Simmons is not as simple as daring him to shoot.
“Well they do great counters to that. One of the things he does that puts people in a terrible position is he goes and if you’re backed off of him, he hands it to guys that can shoot,” he said. “So if you’re backed off and he hands off and you’re not up there, the guys that can shoot are wide open. So it’s not like you can just back off of him.
“I think you have to do your best to stop the ball in transition. He’s great at reading plays. He’s great at making plays for others,” said Stevens. “Those handoffs are a bear and so I think ultimately we’re switching up our matchups all over the place. Al’s got him some, but Marcus Morris guards him, Semi (Ojeleye) guards him, Marcus Smart guards him. And for each of those guys we try to play to their strengths, but we’re not naïve enough to think you can stand inside the paint and guard him because you can’t. If he gets a head of steam or goes into a handoff, you’re cooked.”
Simmons had a much better game yesterday, hitting 8-of-14 shots en route to 16 points, with eight rebounds, eight assists and two blocks.