Colin Cowherd Slams Jayson Tatum’s Shot Selection In Celtics Loss

Jayson Tatum took a brunt of the criticism following a brutal blown lead in the Boston Celtics’ 105-104 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.

With less than 10 seconds to go in the loss, Tatum could not hit the final shot to save the Celtics from losing a game in which they held a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Earlier in the week, FS1’s Colin Cowherd expressed doubts about Boston, even after a historic blowout win at home over the Golden State Warriors. He doubled down after Tatum’s miss.

“I feel a little validated,” Cowherd shared on “The Herd” on Wednesday. “I think Boston is good. I’m not dumping on them because they lost. They won 11 straight games. But let’s talk about how they lost. It felt like a playoff game (going back and forth. Jayson Tatum too often, in big spots, has an advantage and settles for a spot or doesn’t have aggressiveness. He settles for a fall-away.”

Tatum recently affirmed his self-belief, both for the Celtics and at a league-wide level as arguably the sport’s best player. As a result, the 26-year-old will always be in the spotlight when things occasionally go wrong for the Celtics. With star power in mind, Cowherd challenged Tatum through comparisons to all-time greats.

“That’s the shot?” Cowherd asked. “You think Michael Jordan settles for that? LeBron (James) settles for that?”

The loss for the Celtics snapped an 11-game winning streak, though the team still sits in control of the Eastern Conference in a dominant season. That notion still stands out to Cowherd, though closing out games has to improve down the stretch.

“The Celtics standard now is to get to the Finals and win,” Cowherd added. “That’s the standard.”

Tatum and the Celtics look to shake off the loss in a potential NBA Finals preview against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.