Jayson Tatum took the backseat in the first half of the Celtics’ 114-112 loss to the Rockets Monday night, and whether he was forced back there by yet another physical and defensive team – or he put himself there, it can’t become a habit for Boston.
The Celtics are 7-10 this season when Tatum’s usage drops below 30%. To put it plainly, the ball has to be in the best player’s hands, and he has to shoot. It sounds painfully obvious, right? For whatever reasons, that goal doesn’t always translate for a stacked Celtics team.
They were down three players against Ime Udoka’s Houston team: Derrick White and Sam Hauser were ruled out before the game, and Al Horford – though dressed in uniform and warmed up – never left the bench. Houston is a top-4 defense with a tough-as-nails coach. As a former Celtics head coach, Udoka knows Jayson inside and out.
So it wasn’t surprising when Houston’s defenders put the all-out blitz on Tatum from the get-go, forcing him to try to find his game on the boards and through facilitating. But with players out, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla tried unusual combinations, including a lineup of Payton Pritchard, Xavier Tillman, Neemias Queta, and Jrue Holiday around Tatum in the second quarter. Then, two-way player Jordan Walsh entered the game. Tatum only took five shots the entire first half and wrapped it up without a bucket. Even though he tallied five assists, the lineup around him couldn’t survive his no-show in the points column.
He emerged from halftime with a 15-point third quarter and it buoyed his team to a 12-point lead heading into the fourth. He forced a momentum swing, aided by Pritchard’s perfection from behind the arc.
“I just trust in the game, trust that you keep making the right plays, it will eventually open up,” Tatum said after the loss.
But an 11-point run in the fourth quarter and late defensive miscues doomed the Celtics.
“I thought JT did a great job of, they was blitzing him in the fourth, and he made great reads. I got to convert,” Brown said postgame.
Let’s be clear: a short-handed Celtics team saw the Rockets’ best. Udoka’s team is cruising, having now won four in a row after knocking off both the Cleveland Cavaliers and now, the Celtics. Dillon Brooks and Amen Thompson combined for 69 points on the night. Brooks had a career high ten three-pointers.
“Give credit to Houston. The people who wanted to make beat us, beat us tonight,” Brown said.
The critical lesson to take away from this game is that regardless of who’s out, if Tatum’s in, he has to be the primary point of attack on offense. The Celtics could have learned that last week, when Tatum only attempted 12 shots against the Lakers. Two of the Celtics’ worst losses – against Los Angeles and Sacramento – came when Tatum attempted 13 shots or fewer. He only tried 14 against the Rockets.
Tatum is the best player on the NBA’s most talented team, and he’s also been the most consistent through an uneven season for the defending champions. But he’s naturally a little bit deferential. He played guard as a kid and there’s still some of that playmaker to him. It’s on his teammates to recognize who should control the game. It’s on him to take the reigns.