Jayson Tatum’s tough shooting stretch continued as the Boston Celtics fell apart against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.
Tatum was impressive and looked like himself in Boston’s overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday, but the second night of the back-to-back showed some of the shooting inconsistencies he has portrayed so far this season.
Through 13 games — including Boston’s loss to Cleveland — Tatum is leading the league in shots with 291, but is shooting a career-low 38.8% from the field and 32.1% from beyond-the-arc. It obviously is a small sample size, but the missed shots are piling up and his body language on the court has been altered by it.
Celtics head coach Ime Udoka talked about what he has seen after the loss.
“A little frustration on missed shots. He’s letting it effect him on the other end and you just got to. He’s having some tough shooting nights. We’ve talked about him impacting the game in other ways,” Udoka said. “But he got frustrated and played into the crowd a little bit. He had some turnovers there late, some sloppy ones and like I said he has to be able to impact the game when he’s not scoring in the ways he has in the past, which he can do.”
Again, it’s a small sample size. Tatum has proven throughout his career he can play at much more efficient level. He’ll have an opportunity to try to get back on track as they Celtics look for revenge against the Cavaliers on Monday on the road.
