Tatum’s sub patterns among Celtic thoughts

Jayson Tatum’s rotation patterns varied throughout the regular season based on the Celtics’ opponent and available roster. But by far the most common structure involved Tatum playing a six-minute stint at the start, in which he tended to feel out the game and get his teammates involved, with sparkling first-quarter scorer Jaylen Brown leading the way.

Tatum would then check out midway through the period and either sit until the second or return for the final few minutes.

The strategy resulted in him guiding the Celtics’ second unit against the opponent’s second unit for a good stretch of the second quarter.

The results were impossible to ignore. The second quarter was Tatum’s highest-scoring and most efficient period. He averaged 8.3 points on 52.8 percent shooting overall and 41.1 percent from the 3-point line.

Coach Joe Mazzulla has altered Tatum’s sub patterns slightly since Kristaps Porzingis was sidelined with a calf strain, though. Over the last three games, Tatum has played the entire first quarter and returned to the court to start the second before getting a brief break a few minutes later.

Tatum, who averaged 30.1 points per game last season, has not reached the 30-point mark since a March 28 overtime loss to the Hawks. He also is unquestionably a man of routine. So perhaps Mazzulla will look for a way to get him back to