Tatum moves on from rough afternoon
MILWAUKEE >> As much as he strived to be a playmaker Saturday when the open shots didn’t materialize, the Celtics could have used a little more of Jayson Tatum’s scoring side.
The Celtics star, successfully trapped throughout the afternoon by Milwaukee during the Celtics’ 103101 Game 3 loss, finished with 10 points on 4-for-19 shooting.
In addition, Tatum continues to take hits on his right wrist — he came up from a Giannis Antetokounmpo foul holding it Saturday — but does not blame the injury for what happened to him in Game 3.
“I fell on it probably, like, two months ago. Some rest
would have done it well,” he said. “It’s healed but just kind of sensitive still, because obviously we’ve been playing every other day and it keeps getting hit and I keep falling on it. But just wrap it up, put a pad on it, and play.”
Saturday’s problem was a lack of balance in his game.
“Yeah, I’ve been doing a great job of it. Today was just a one-off where I probably was thinking a little bit too much knowing that they give me a lot of attention,” he said. “Obviously I passed up some open looks that I should have — that would have been best for the team. It lead to some turnovers and things like that. But it all comes down and I just got to make better reads and a lot of times it was for myself today that I passed up.
“I don’t think they changed anything. I think they’re doing a good job of showing a crowd and being physical and things like that. I think I was just thinking a little too much today.” Ime Udoka agrees. “Just passing up open looks,” the Celtics coach said of where Tatum went wrong. “Over-thinking it at times. Just trying to simplify it and not keep it to get too complicated. But they’re going to sit back in the lane. You have your pull-ups. Like I said, after the first quarter, one or two dribbles too many to kind of getting into the teeth of their defense. We gotta set screens and free these guys up and they can walk into a wide open shot. But over-penetrated a little bit. Got into the crowd a little bit and started overthinking a little bit.
“He over-penetrated at times and got into the teeth of their defense down in the paint,” said the Celtics coach. “But we do like those paint touches and him generating offense for others, but you have to get him going as well. I would say we talked about the setups and setting screens, which we did a lot better in Game 2 to free him up, but we’ll go take a look at it. But just looking at the halftime edit and what we saw during the game, he had some open shots that he passed up. So nothing they did differently from Game 1 to 2, it’s our execution wise on that end to free him up.”
Complainers
The Celtics were back to their official-baiting ways Saturday, with Udoka angrily actually calling a timeout in the first quarter after Grant Williams paused to argue as the Bucks were scoring a basket down the other end.
“All the time, yes,” Udoka said of how often he tells his players to keep it to themselves. “That play that I called the timeout, he gave up 3, tied game, 13-13, in the first quarter. It was one of the ones that stand out, but just a little bit too much. Let me talk to the refs, let them bitch at the refs, and let’s keep playing. We invite that physicality and don’t want to be the team crying about it.”
A healthier Smart
Though Marcus Smart predicted his return for Game 3, he also admitted that the thigh bruise had limited him physically, especially when getting down into a defensive stance. But his range of motion had improved dramatically over the course of three days.
“It was noticeable the last few days. Just a little bit of swelling and pain tolerance,” said Udoka. “Main thing with him was he looked fine getting shots and going through some basketball movements. Some of the quicker movements got better over the last few days, more treatment on it as well. Looked good yesterday — much better — and he’ll be ready to go.”