Jayson Tatum struggled against the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals, and it was one of the reasons why the Boston Celtics lost that series.
The superstar forward had a chance to show improvement Saturday night when the Celtics played the Warriors at Chase Center in the first matchup between these teams since June.
Unfortunately for the C’s, Tatum didn’t have a great game.
He scored 18 points on 6-of-21 shooting, along with seven rebounds, two assists and three steals in 40 minutes as the Celtics lost 123-107.
Tatum: Loss to Warriors ‘not going to dictate our season’
Ex-Celtics center Kendrick Perkins, speaking on NBC Sports Boston’s “Celtics Postgame Live” following the loss, wants to see Tatum find other ways to impact winning when he’s having trouble scoring.
“Jayson Tatum, we can harp on his offense, but we can also harp on the fact he’s 6-foot-10, stupid athletic and that sometimes you gotta get in the trenches and muck it up a little bit,” Perkins said.
“When we see Giannis Antetokounmpo and he begins to struggle offensively, guess what he does? He goes to the offensive glass, he starts jumping into the passing lanes, he goes out and gets 15 to 20 rebounds with four or five blocks. There are different ways to step up to the plate and have an effect on the game to get wins. Jayson Tatum looked spooked (Saturday night), and he talked about losing sleep after the Finals, he’s definitely about to lose sleep until he plays Golden State again.
“You know what the narrative is about to be right now? No matter what he does from here, until they play Golden State again in Boston, they’re going to keep saying, ‘Oh, he isn’t ready for Golden State’. He’s going to have to change that.”
Tatum averaged just 21.5 points per game versus the Warriors in the NBA Finals last season. He scored 13 points on 6-of-18 shooting in Game 6 of the series when Golden State clinched the championship in Boston.
The loss in the Finals clearly motivated Tatum all offseason, because the 24-year-old forward entered Saturday as arguably the leading candidate for league MVP. He’s played awesome this season, highlighted by a career-high 30.5 points per game.
But there’s no question Tatum needs to find ways to be more impactful at both ends of the floor against the Warriors. If the Celtics are going to break through and win Banner 18 this season, they may have to go through Golden State again to do it.
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