Boston Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum wasn’t nearly as involved this season when it came to NBA MVP talks and chit-chatter, and the voting results spoke for themselves. Tatum earned zero first-place votes, zero second-place votes, just one third-place vote, and 86 points, earning a sixth-place finish far behind winner Nikola Jokic of the Denver […]
Boston Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum wasn’t nearly as involved this season when it came to NBA MVP talks and chit-chatter, and the voting results spoke for themselves.
Tatum earned zero first-place votes, zero second-place votes, just one third-place vote, and 86 points, earning a sixth-place finish far behind winner Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jalen Brunson finished ahead of Tatum, which speaks to the overall motto of Boston’s 2023-24 season: sacrifice.
Before the season began, Tatum led a team meeting, covering that very topic. The Celtics had just acquired Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, adding two All-Star veterans to an already-talented starting five. Knowing adjustments were necessary for the new-and-improved Boston core to reach its potential, Tatum needed to set the record straight.
“We all are human and have feelings, and I opened the floor and basically said, ‘There’s six of us. Only five can play at one time One of us is not going to finish the game all the time,'” Tatum explained to ESPN in November.
Teammates Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Al Horford, Porzingis, and Holiday each attended the preseason meeting. Ultimately, the Celtics elected to make Horford the team’s unofficial sixth starter, playing off the bench, primarily along Boston’s second unit. Considering Horford’s age (37) and athletic limitations, the decision made all the sense in the world, especially with a 7-foot-2, 28-year-old Porzingis added to the mix.
However, it wasn’t just Horford who was impacted.
Welcoming Porzingis and Holiday to the starting lineup meant that Tatum’s scoring numbers would, too, take a slight backseat. This mindset resonated with Boston’s entire locker room from Opening Night. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t need to worry about personal interests interfering with the team’s primary motive — a championship — throughout the regular season.
Boston finished with a league-best 64-18 record, losing no more than twice consecutively through the campaign. Consistently, the Celtics blew teams out, and that trend even snuck its way into the postseason. Tuesday night’s 120-95 Game 1 win over the Cavaliers marked Boston’s 19th win by 25-plus points — the most in NBA history — surpassing the 1971-72 Bucks and 2015-16 Spurs.
Tatum’s performance to open up the Eastern Conference semifinals against Cleveland was one of the 26-year-old’s less-than-stellar nights. He scored 18 points, shot 7-of-19 from the field, and missed all five 3-point attempts. Granted, in grabbing 11 rebounds, Tatum recorded his fifth double-double this postseason and the 40th of his career under the bright lights.
Encapsulating what’s allowed the Celtics to be the most dominant team in the NBA, Tatum applied the locker room’s mentality. The Cavaliers smothered Tatum with multiple defenders focused primarily on him, and taking notice of that early, Tatum played a facilitator’s role.
“It’s really what I’ve been saying all year: we got a really, really talented team,” Tatum said after Game 1. “It shows the depth of our team and how we can win games in a lot of different ways. It just presents another challenge of what else can you do to impact the game in a positive way.”
Boston’s true identity gave the Cavaliers a rude awakening, as it did to the Heat in the first round. Cleveland held a measly two-point lead in the first quarter, which lasted 18 seconds, and it was the team’s only lead of the night.
Tatum and the Celtics are three wins away from taking their next step toward the postseason mountaintop and reaching the conference finals.
