Pressure’s on rookies
Youngest C’s feel the heat
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
As Jayson Tatum is learning, defenses turn up the heat this deep into the postseason.
One sign of the rookie’s need to adapt has come at the 3-point line, where he’s attempted, and missed, only one trey in each of the last two games against Cleveland. Though he still scored 18 and 17 points in Games 3 and 4, respectively, this bread-and-butter part of Tatum’s game appears to have been taken away.
“Well, I think as a team we need to do a better job of getting our best shot, including some drive-andkick inside-out 3’s,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said yesterday on a conference call. “But I don’t think that’s specific — not like there’s multiple times where we necessarily missed Jayson on that. Maybe once or twice.
“And then they’re guarding him. They’re making it as tough as possible,” he continued. “They can do some switching. They’re doing a lot of switching. When LeBron (James) guards the ball handler in pick-and-roll, he switches a ton, which keeps them out of rotations, allows them to lock into their guys, and they’re good at it. Sometimes you have to take what’s given to you.”
But Tatum understands he also has to respond differently.
“I mean, I gotta be better,” said Tatum. “They are just being physical, top-blocking, blitzing the ball screens. I just gotta be tougher with the ball.”
Jaylen Brown has noticed the increased pressure as well, as the Cavaliers have targeted the Celtics’ two young, inexperienced stars.
“Just trying to increase ball pressure, trying to be more physical,” said Brown. “And on their home floor they’re allowed to be more physical than they are on the road, I guess. But we just come out and be aggressive. I tried to be aggressive and I was almost too aggressive in the first half (of Game 4). I settled in in the second half, and we’ve got to find our groove, me and JT.
“There’s a lot asked of us, offensively and defensively. We’ve got to be a little more poised and be able to score in those matchups.”
Deserved honor
It’s hardly a surprise that Tatum was named to the NBA All-Rookie first team yesterday. What came as a bit of a shock was the fact that unlike fellow Rookie of the Year finalists Ben Simmons (Philadelphia) and Donovan Mitchell (Utah), he wasn’t a unanimous choice.
One of the 100 media voters picked Tatum as a second teamer.
“Somebody made a mistake,” said Stevens. “He’s had an unbelievable rookie year. I don’t know who’s all on the team, I haven’t looked at all that stuff, but I know that any awards that come his way are well deserving.”
Another Celtics rookie, Semi Ojeleye, also earned a mention in the form of one second-team vote.
Chicago’s Lauri Markkanen and the Lakers’ Kyle Kuzma also made the first team.
Doc inspired
By his own admission, Tyronn Lue didn’t know he wanted to be a coach until Doc Rivers told him.
And then the Cavaliers head coach discovered just how much he loved the job after joining Rivers’ staff with the Celtics.
Rivers became Lue’s model for how to do things the right way.
“Starting from 2009 when I got my chance to coach with Doc, I just studied everything he did — as far as doing press conferences, as far as how he handled powers in our league like Paul Pierce and Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett,” Lue said in a conference call yesterday. “I had a chance to see how he handled situations, and then going to the Clippers, with Blake Griffin and Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan, I just wanted to see how he handled those guys and how he treated them and what buttons to push.
“He’s an offensive genius as far as out of timeouts and things like that,” he said. “I just wanted to study him. He’s one of our top coaches in the NBA. When I was there, he was at the top of his game. That’s somebody that I wanted to model myself after, so I just kind of picked up everything along the way.” ...
Shane Larkin continues to improve in his recovery from a strained left shoulder. Stevens left the door open yesterday to the guard returning to the floor in this series, though probably not in tonight’s Game 5.