NBA: We have a problem
But Tatum still needs a little help
PORTLAND, Ore. — After Jayson Tatum put a signature performance on the board against his Lakers, LeBron James called him “special.”
James then went on Instagram to pay some tribute.
Underneath a photo of both players waiting to check in at the scorers table was the following post:
“That boi to the left of me is an ABSOLUTE PROBLEM!! Keep going. #Youngking One-Leg-sleeve-Gang lol”
Players get christened this way. Shaquille O’Neal, as told to the Herald’s Steve Bulpett, dubbed Paul Pierce “The Truth” following a 42point performance against Shaq’s Lakers in March 2001. Like Tatum now, Pierce was in his third season at the time.
So in a very NBA kind of way, James was sizing Tatum up for NBA royalty.
But The Problem, if that’s how it catches on, learned a sobering lesson on Sunday, too. With Kentavius Caldwell-Pope on the ball, the Lakers limited Tatum to four points in the fourth quarter with incessant help, including, on a couple of occasions, a blitzing Anthony Davis.
Tatum admittedly hadn’t faced this kind of continuous pressure before, but figures it’s nothing that a little work can’t resolve.
“Watching film and making the right play,” he said of what’s next.
As the Celtics discovered as they lost hold in the fourth quarter, they didn’t generate enough offense to help Tatum out of his bind.
Should Kemba Walker miss his third straight game with a sore left knee Tuesday night against the Blazers, it will once again be on the rest of the lineup to supply some balance.
“He gets it smoking like he did tonight, they’d better double team him, because one guy can’t guard him,” said Jaylen Brown. “When we get it going like that, whoever it may be, we have to be ready to play.”
And that will need a little work.
“I think it’s something the whole team’s gotta be ready for,” said Gordon Hayward. “Certainly it’s another level when it starts happening to you. It’s not just on the person who’s being doubled. You gotta have an outlet, you gotta have guys in the right spots. So we’re going to have to — all of us are going to have to be better.
“If somebody is doubleteamed and we make the right play, it should mean easy shots, either layups or wide-open shots,” he said. “They’re trying to take the ball out of somebody’s hands, so they’re leaving somebody open. We have a lot of weapons so we should take advantage of that.
“We had our shots, we had our chances. Some of them I wish you could get back, but you can’t. So I can try to learn from this, we didn’t have one of our best players, we didn’t have Kemba, either, so we missed him for sure. Learn from this and get ready for the next two.”
The adjustment will come with time, said Brad Stevens.
“We should be able to take advantage of that a little bit better than we did but we had a couple of good possessions late where we did,” said the Celtics coach. “We got a little better as the game went on. I thought the difference in the game to me was their second group —Rondo, Howard and Caruso — and a couple other guys really turned up the heat defensively on us and we didn’t handle it as well. It led to some steals, led to some turnovers, some points.”