Tatum’s lapse in third was no cause for alarm

Jayson Tatum had the hot hand in the first half of the Celtics’ 122-119 win over the Bucks at TD Garden Wednesday night. He scored 23 points by halftime and made four of his first five 3point attempts, helping the Celtics build a double-digit lead.

The Celtics led by as much as 21, but the Bucks went on a run in the fourth quarter and eventually sliced the lead to 3 on a 30foot jumper by Damian Lillard with one second remaining.

Tatum went scoreless for almost 22 minutes to start the second half as the Bucks were surging. He didn’t take a single shot in the third quarter and missed his first four field goal attempts in the fourth. His first points of the second half came on free throws with 2:06 remaining.

“I love that,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “I think he should do that all the time. That would be fantastic. I thought the zone was the reason for that, because they were moving the ball around, and by the time it got to him, there just was no time to shoot.”

The Bucks threw a mix of coverages at the Celtics aimed at taking them out of their comfort zone and making them think about more than having to deal with man-to-man. Tatum said he was looking to get his teammates more involved on offense.

“I feel like we got some good looks, maybe trying to be in the position to get other guys going,” Tatum said. “I had it going in the first half, so at times picking spots to try to be more of a facilitator.

“Sometimes it’s how the rhythm of the game goes. It’s not like it was intentional, like I was like ‘I’m not going to shoot this quarter.’ Sometimes it’s just how the game is flowing.”

Former Celtic Paul Pierce told Boston.com that it must be refreshing for Tatum to trust his teammates and feel like he doesn’t have to score as much for the Celtics to win.

Tatum is averaging 27.1 points per game, down from 30.1 last year. He is taking 19.4 field goal attempts per game, compared with 21.1 last season. The Celtics’ offensive efficiency rating of 122.1 is the best in the league.

“He doesn’t always have to score for that team,” Bucks forward Khris Middleton said. “They’ve got multiple guys out there that can do damage. They’ve got Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, [Kristaps] Porzingis, and [Payton] Pritchard had a great game.

“So he’s more just playing through those guys, waiting for the ball to come to him. Even though he didn’t take a shot in the third quarter, he still came out, especially in the fourth quarter, and put his head down and did what he does.”

Tatum said there’s some relief knowing that he has pieces around him to lift him up, but going long stretches without shooting isn’t something he plans to continue.

“I don’t think me not shooting for a whole quarter is something we’re going to get used to,” he said. “But there are certain outliers throughout the season.”

Tatum finished with 31 points after scoring 8 in the final 2:06. Six of the 8 came from free throws as he attacked the rim and helped the Celtics close out the game.

“I thought they made a nice adjustment,” said Rivers. “They just gave him the ball in iso[lation], which is pretty good when you’re Jayson Tatum.”