Doncic a lesson in why Celtics fans shouldn’t take Tatum for granted

Doncic a lesson in why Celtics fans shouldn’t take Tatum for granted originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jayson Tatum needs to win a title.

Everyone knows it, especially him. Draymond Green put it harshly, but not unfairly, after Tatum’s Celtics reached another Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday: “No one cares.”

Let’s play a different game, however. On Wednesday night, another young superstar with a shoe deal and multiple All-NBA appearances took the floor in Oklahoma City. And here’s what TNT’s Jared Greenberg had to say about Mavericks magic man Luka Doncic:

“All series long, we have seen what appears to be Luka Doncic laboring up and down the court. Today I was told, if this were the regular season, he would’ve been shut down for a minimum of at least two weeks. Luka has been getting two or three hours a day of intense physical therapy to treat a litany of ailments, including a sore knee, an ankle sprain, a back injury, and a sore Achilles that I learned has been bothering Luka for approximately the last four months.

“With all of that said, there is hope within the Mavs organization that tonight Luka will be more focused on the Thunder than he has been in this series on the referees.”

Umm, wow. That’s a lot. I mean, Tony Montana didn’t suffer that much damage after getting lit up at the end of Scarface. The absurd injury list reeks of preemptive excuse-making, as does the note that Doncic would be shut down for two weeks if he weren’t such a warrior. It’s almost like a Mavericks source threw that in there to soften the blow of hammering him for obsessively whining to the officials, which he does like no other.

Now try and recall the last time anyone said anything even remotely similar about Tatum. The answer is never, which is why we shouldn’t take him for granted.

Tatum and the Celtics may have their faults, but he’s a low-maintenance superstar who rarely misses a game and has his team in the NBA’s final four virtually every year. That’s not nothing.

Because we’re desperate for Tatum and Jaylen Brown to finally raise Banner 18 (and because we’re us), we focus on the negative. Tatum’s shot selection has…

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Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-05-16 14:35:01

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