Tatum returns to form in victory
Star forward scores 41, shakes off post-break rust
The Celtics were never concerned about Jayson Tatum, nor should they have been.
As Al Horford said after Monday’s loss to the Knicks, “It’s a long season. There’s going to be ups and downs, and he’s the last guy I’m worried about.”
But after three lackluster performances coming out of the All-Star break — capped by his first career ejection late in Monday’s loss — the Celtics needed a response from their superstar. Tatum said that after a few weeks on the road, he was looking forward to homecooked meals and seeing his son, Deuce. Maybe there was something to that. Tatum returned to form on Wednesday night, scoring 41 points and adding 11 rebounds and eight assists, as he gave the Celtics the separation they needed in a 117113 victory over the Cavaliers.
The Celtics — after losing their first two meetings of the season to the Cavs in overtime — grabbed a win over a potential future playoff opponent as they stayed a half-game back of the Bucks for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Donovan Mitchell scored 44 points in the loss.
Though he salvaged one bad performance with a game-winner in Saturday’s win over the 76ers, Tatum had an extended hangover shooting the ball, as he hit on just 36.6% of his shots, including 24% on 3-pointers, in the three games after leaving the All-Star Game. But he shook it off with relative ease on Wednesday, going 13-for-21 from the field, 4-for-6 from 3-point range and 11-for-14 from the foul line, which helped him get going.
What was the key to his quick turnaround?
“Not listening to you guys (the media),” Tatum said with a smile. “It’s a long season. It’s 82 games. Nobody has a great day of work every day of the year. Everybody has bad days, I guess. But you have to take the good days with the bad days. I say it all the time. I never get too high, never get too low. Regardless of what happens, you can’t change it. You have to get ready for the next one and move on.”
Horford scored 23 points as he matched his career high with six 3-pointers. On a night when the bench gave them a rare dud offensively, those two were the difference as the Celtics ran away from the Cavs in the second half.
The Celtics only led by three at halftime after a close first half when the Celtics’ starting five ignited a strong surge to start the third quarter. That unit — the intended five of Tatum, Horford, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Robert Williams — only started their fifth game together of the season on Wednesday as they try to form muchneeded cohesion down the stretch heading into the playoffs.
They opened the second half with arguably their best run of the season together — on both ends. Tatum found Horford for an open 3-pointer, Tatum made a free throw and Smart capped a 7-0 spurt with a 3-pointer, forcing a Cleveland timeout.
The Celtics’ starting group went on a 17-6 run to seize control and took a double-digit lead they never relinquished.
“It’s a new year,” Brown said of the starting five’s growing chemistry. “But when we’re all on the same page, we’re all healthy, I feel like we’ve got a good chance to win any ballgame. So I think the focus is just being healthy, taking care of your body, and just coming out and playing games. Getting chemistry, but building the right habits. I think that’s important, especially moving toward the playoffs, just gotta keep moving and building the right habits.”
Tatum scored his first points of the game on an impressive one-handed putback slam in the first quarter that may have been a key to getting him going. With a different substitution pattern — he got some rest in different stints over all four quarters — Tatum scored 15 points in the second quarter, and then during one stretch of the third, scored 13 of 16 Celtics points as they took a commanding 21-point lead.
Tatum set the tone offensively with how well he saw the floor as he found open shooters — especially Horford — and the Celtics were stout defensively despite a late Cavs rally.
“He continues to improve,” Horford said of Tatum’s playmaking. “I feel like he’s always been a good passer. I just think that now, obviously he has the ball a lot more and he has to be in these positions, scoring and passing, just making decisions all the time. To your point, he’s gotten much better (at) finding guys. There were a couple times I didn’t think the ball was going to get to me to be honest. It got to me. It’s pretty amazing. That’s something that he has focused on and you see him improve.”
It was one game, but the Celtics wanted to respond at home — especially against a Cavs team they had trouble with at the beginning of the season.
“You never want to lose two in a row and then you don’t want to lose on your home floor either,” Brown said. “We got a pretty good stretch of basketball coming up. It’s gonna be some tough games, so we have to find ways to win and guys have to be ready.”