Jayson Tatum can pretty much do it all on a basketball court.
He can tie a Celtics franchise-record (with Larry Bird, you might have heard of him?) with 60 points to carry his team back from a massive 32-point deficit for an overtime win to answer his critics, as he did against the Spurs last month.
In arguably the biggest game of the season the young budding superstar can put up a 50-burger battling buddy Bradley Beal and the Wizards in the play-in tournament, as he did last week to secure the No. 7 seed in the real, honest-to-goodness playoffs.
That performance left Washington coach Scott Brooks to proclaim that Tatum is “going to be an MVP in this league soon.”
Fans, teammates, opponents and opponents’ coaches all know what Tatum is capable of. At his best, he really is that damn good.
At his best, the comparisons to Paul Pierce and talk of philosophy-sharing workouts with the late, great Kobe Bryant are justified.
But, the 23-year-old Celtics centerpiece is also capable of disappearing at times. Capable of putting up the 0-for-6 performance in the second half like he did the other night in the Game 1 loss to Kyrie Irving (yuk!) and the Nets. Capable of being incapable of stopping the momentum change as Brooklyn turned a 12-point second-quarter deficit into an eventual 17-point fourth-quarter lead on the way to victory.
Boston and its supposedly ascending alpha dog superstar player, who shot just 6-for-20 in the game overall, were helpless. They were very much defeated.
To be clear, it certainly wasn’t just him, wasn’t all his fault. But as the straw that stirs the drink that is the Celtics, Tatum can’t let things like that happen. Not if he’s truly a superstar, not if he’s truly the pillar upon which the Boston franchise is going to be built for the next decade or more.
The most difficult jump in sports is to the truly elite level. When you reach the NBA, most guys have talent. Lots of guys can be stars. But only a few step up to the MVP level.
If Tatum truly is going to make that final leap, it’s going to be about consistency and leadership.
If Tatum is going to reach the heights of his talents and his skill set, it’s about leading his team night in and night out, four quarters of action with the weight of success on his shoulders and his shoulders alone. Sometimes that will be scoring buckets. Other times, when the shots aren’t falling as was the case on Saturday night, he must find other ways to get the job done. That’s what the great ones do.
Fair or not, right now Tatum can’t have a bad half. He can’t have a bad quarter. There is no margin for error for the true greats.
That’s particularly pertinent for Tatum this postseason with fellow Celtics foundational piece and All Star Jaylon Brown watching from the sidelines following wrist surgery.
Right now, much like the big cheese that he’s supposed to be, Tatum stands alone.
Fifty or 60 points on any given nut is fun.
But just 22 points in a losing effort while watching guys like Kevin Durant go for 32 or Irving pour in 29 just isn’t enough. That’s unacceptable.
Not good enough for his team. Not enough for a true superstar, future MVP candidate.
“They were physical,” Tatum explained to the media after the loss. “I felt like I had some good looks, tough shooting night. Give them credit, they competed. I didn’t get some to fall down like I wanted to but, Game 2 (is another opportunity).”
It sure is.
One for both Tatum and the Celtics to prove what they have.
Are they going to upset the Nets and their future Hall of Fame Big 3 of Durant, Irving and James Harden? Maybe not. But if we are to believe what we see sometimes and hear all the time, Tatum is better than what he did the other night. He needs to show that and prove it in Game 2 on Tuesday night in Brooklyn.
Because that’s what true superstars, true MVP candidates do.
If that’s what Tatum is, if that’s what he wants to be, now is the time to prove it.
True greatness is about consistency, bringing it every single night.