It’s really not reaching all that much to say Friday might’ve been Jayson Tatum’s worst professional basketball game.
In more than 32 minutes of action, the NBA All-Star shot an abysmal 2-for-18 from the field, missing all four of his 3-point attempts while executing on one of his two free throws. He finished with five points, seven rebounds, three assists, two turnovers, as many steals and one block in the Boston Celtics’ 119-112 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Of course, Tatum is expected to be one of the Celtics’ top two players this postseason, so if those types of showings continue, it won’t bode well Boston’s potential playoff run.
But for head coach Brad Stevens, it simply isn’t worth worrying about right now.
“He got some decent looks off of pick-and-rolls,” Stevens said, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “They did a good job loading up to him, they did a good job at the rim on him. He’ll go back and look at it — he had a couple nights like that early in the season too. Least of our concerns is him finding the net, it’s what he does. So he’ll be fine.”
The Celtics play Sunday afternoon against the Portland Trail Blazers, so a thorough film session very well might prove to be the antidote to Tatum’s missteps from the seeding round opener.
