Jayson Tatum’s third NBA season ended in a fashion the budding superstar has become familiar with.
The Celtics, who fell one win shy of the NBA Finals in Tatum’s rookie season, saw their 2019-20 season come to an end Sunday night. After staving off elimination in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat, Boston wasn’t able to extend its season once again, suffering a 125-113 loss inside the league’s Orlando bubble.
Tatum and other members of the Celtics used their postgame media availabilities Sunday in large to reflect on the campaign. When asked to reveal what he learned from Boston’s latest playoff run, the 22-year-old explained how he can build off of it.
“That it’s not easy,” Tatum said, per ESPN. “It’s tough. If you want those expectations, if you want to be that guy that’s capable of doing those things, you’ve got to go through some tough things, some ups and downs, some stuff I can learn from.
“I think I can learn a lot moving forward, from this season, this series. I’ll grow from it.”
Falling short of the ultimate goal will be a tough pill to swallow for the Celtics and their fans. But with an exciting young core headlined by Tatum, it’s easy to be hopeful about the future in Boston.
