BOSTON — Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum didn’t look like a superstar in his dreadful showing in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.
But on Monday night in Game 4 against the Miami Heat at TD Garden, Tatum regained a majority of his stellar form.
Tatum was one of the leaders in Boston’s one-sided 102-82 victory, producing a game-high 31 points on 50% shooting from the field to go along with eight rebounds and five assists.
Following the contest, Tatum acknowledged the difficulty of coming to grips with his Game 3 performance — he netted only 10 points and turned the ball over six times — with so much at stake for the Celtics, but decided the best thing was to just move on from it so he could deliver a bounce-back performance two nights later.
“Right after it’s tough. Frustrated with how you played knowing how important this time of year is and feeling like you left your teammates down, especially we lost by like six,” Tatum said. “But I think I do a good job of after I sleep it off, regardless if I had 10 points or 46 points, the next day is the next day. Whatever happened happened. I’m a big believer you can’t change what happened. … Obviously I was ready to get back to play. But I didn’t doubt myself. I know how to play basketball. Regardless of how many points I score, just trying to come out and help us get a win.”
Tatum also showed more aggressiveness to help the Celtics topple the Heat in Game 4. Tatum made his way to the free-throw line regularly, hitting 14 of his 16 attempts, which was two more tries from the charity stripe than the entire Miami team.
“Just think being aggressive,” Tatum said. “Obviously from last game, whether it was for myself or my teammates… just have a different burst of energy for myself. And it led to free throws and open shots and things like that.”
Tatum will look to make it two consecutive strong performances when the Celtics travel to Miami for Game 5 on Wednesday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.
