The Boston Celtics ended last season in the NBA Finals and dealt with some adversity before this season even began. Head coach Ime Udoka was suspended in September, leading to Joe Mazzulla being named the interim head coach on September 22nd.
Despite the early-season adversity, the Celtics were unfazed. Boston started off the season 18-4 through November and won the Atlantic Division for the second straight season.
Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck joined WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show and revealed the first conversation he had after hearing the Udoka news and how Jayson Tatum led the way this season.
“The first person I talked to who called me was Jayson Tatum, and he’s like ‘What are we going to do?’ and I said ‘We’re going to go with Joe Mazzulla.’ He goes ‘OK, I like Joe, young guy, really good guy, I see it. But I mean what are we going to do?’ I said ‘Jayson, it’s a players league. I always hear that it’s a players league. So let’s prove it.’ And he said ‘You got it,'" Grousbeck recalled.
“We just had that kind of conversation where it’s very one-on-one as partners and I think it took it on his shoulders to not be distraught or rattled but instead to lead us to a great season. So if there’s one leader of the team in terms of everything – it’s wrong to say there’s one, we don’t have necessarily a captain or anything like that – but the first person that came to mind is Jayson.’”
Tatum set a new career-high with 30.1 points per game this season – the sixth-best mark in the league. In fact, he set career-highs in rebounds per game (8.8) and assists per game (4.6) as well. There may not be a captain of the Celtics, but Tatum certainly leads the way for this Boston team.
Tatum and the Celtics will start their playoff run on Saturday afternoon at home against the Atlanta Hawks.
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