Tatum improves on NBA-best 3-point shooting
Jayson Tatum began last night’s game with a leagueleading 3-point shooting percentage of 49.3 and somehow managed to take it higher.
The Celtics rookie, who scored 17 points in the team’s 111-100 win against Milwaukee, made 4-of-4 from downtown in the first quarter. His performance was marred only by a failed heave at the halftime buzzer, but he’s now shooting 51.3 percent on 3-pointers.
And as calm as Tatum seems, he truly never expects to miss.
“Every time I shoot, I think it’s going in. I get upset when it doesn’t,” Tatum said, adding of that errant heave, “I thought it was going in. When it left my hand, but then I was like, ‘Nah.’”
Based on Tatum’s facial expression, it’s difficult for an opponent to tell just what, exactly, rattles him.
“I think his mannerisms are (such) that you can’t see if he’s rattled or not. His composure is at a very high level to only be 19,” said Bucks coach Jason Kidd. “He knows how to play the game and has a very high basketball IQ, which helps their team.”
Part of what marvels Tatum’s peers is that he was known mainly as a midrange jump shooter as a Duke freshman.
“That (expletive) doesn’t matter, man,” Kyrie Irving said. “Jayson played the 3/4 at Duke. I don’t think Jayson really picked and popped in terms of what (coach Mike Krzyzewski) was utilizing him for at Duke. Now he gets to come in and play his natural role and be in position to where he can not only be a threat from the 3-point line but also a threat going to the rim.
“He’s seeing the opportunities of us having highlevel players. Not saying in college there aren’t highlevel players, but it’s just a difference from college to professional, (but) the ability to swing the basketball in the offense he’s in right now is predicated on movement, and he’s getting open shots.”
Tatum admits he misses college, with a big exception.
“I don’t think I really like going to class that much. I’m good where I’m at,” Tatum said. “(I do miss) all the friends I made, the college atmosphere, the fans standing up the whole game.”
Mask countdown
By Irving’s count, he has spent three weeks wearing a plastic mask designed to protect a minor fracture under his right eye the point guard said is mostly healed.
“I’m ready to take that (expletive) off. I’ve been ready to take it off since I wore it,” he said, pointing to Friday’s game in San Antonio as a possible liberation date. “Four weeks, OK guys? Four weeks. So I think (Friday). The countdown begins . ... The cheek feels good. The cheek feels good. My daughter’s not hitting me in the face anymore.”
Horford gets Freaky
As a sign of just how much Al Horford’s overall game has evolved since joining the Celtics, he was a major part of the Giannis Antetokounmpo plan last night.
The center is athletic and versatile enough that he now guards five positions, and in the case of the Milwaukee star — himself a player who defies positions — Horford often was the team’s best defensive remedy during the first two meetings this season.
“It’s a credit to him and the way I’ve been changing my game, but when I was in Atlanta, we would put Kyle Korver on him, different guys, and he’s gotten so much better you can’t do that,” Horford said of the Greek Freak, who had 40 points and nine rebounds. “You have to be able to put a tough defender on him and make him earn everything he gets.
“He’s very unique just because he’s very athletic and has the ability to get in the paint pretty much any time he wants. Even though you know that’s what he wants to do, it’s still difficult guarding him. It’s important for me to stay between him and the basket as much as possible.”