Tatum scoring less represents step up
CHICAGO — Masterful individual scoring performances have become almost a nightly occurrence during this NBA season.
Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid both hit the 70-point mark. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns have all reached 60.
But Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, for the most part, has not been part of the barrages that look as if they belong in video games. Tatum’s season high is 45 points, an impressive mark but hardly glamorous during such a high-scoring season.
Tatum’s scoring average has dipped from a career-best 30.1 last season to 27.1 this year. But his field-goal and 3-point percentages have improved slightly, so it is not as if he is struggling. More than anything, this talented Celtics team no longer needs Tatum to erupt in order to win.
There are so many other options. Tatum has willingly embraced a slightly reduced scoring role following the additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday. Also, Derrick White continues to emerge as a scoring threat.
After scoring 25 points in Thursday’s 129-112 romp over the Bulls, Tatum admitted that it’s not always easy to pull back, particularly when his fellow NBA stars seem to be rising even higher. But he has no plans to change his approach.
“The human side is like, yeah, you want to continue to average more [points] every year,” he said. “You see other guys putting up 30-plus a night, and you know you can do that. But part of growing is understanding what we have in this window, trying to maximize that and uplift the guys around me.
“I think it just took some time for me to understand, like, I know I can score 30 a night. I did that.
“But that’s not necessarily what this team needs on a nightly basis. So (I’m) taking that step back, in a sense, for us to be better. I’ve done everything but win a championship. That’s all I’m going to be judged on at this point in my career, so just doing what it takes to help us get to that point.”
Tatum has guided the Celtics to the top of the NBA, and barring a substantial injury it’s hard to envision this team not finishing the regular season with the league’s best record. In recent days there’s been renewed debate about whether that should be enough to thrust Tatum back into the MVP conversation.
Many Celtics fans bristle when they hear this because there was a sense last season that Tatum was sometimes too focused on winning the big award. This year he continues to make the right passes, the right reads and the right decisions time and again, and no one wants MVP chatter to get in the way of that.
But Tatum continues to stress he is not going to change his approach over the final two months of this regular season. If it ends with some honors coming his way, then fine.
“I don’t have the points per game ... but I think the voters are smart enough to understand that dynamic of our team, essentially having to do less scoring maybe on certain nights but still impact the game in a lot of ways to ensure that we win every single night,” Tatum said. “We’re in first place and trying to be the best team that everyone on our own team feels valued.
“It’s not just about me because we’re going to need everybody down the stretch. We’re going to need each other for what we’re trying to do: win a championship.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said the MVP race should be about many of the things that Tatum has been quietly doing so well.