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BOSTON — Whether it was gamesmanship or pure candor from Dallas’ head coach, Jason Kidd’s proclamation of Jaylen Brown being Boston’s best player certainly shifted a blistering spotlight back onto the battle that’s brewed throughout Brown and Jayson Tatum’s seven seasons together. It’s been a fight for these Celtics to resist the temptations of external antagonism, to the point Jrue Holiday felt the need to clarify his statement on the matter from Saturday’s practice, before Holiday took questions from the media following his team-high 26 points in the Celtics’ 105-98 Game 2 win over the Mavericks Sunday night.
“I do not prefer one or the other. I prefer both,” Holiday said. “Both of them are superstars, and it’s being shown out here on the biggest stage in the world.”
The fact neither Tatum nor Brown, and for the first-team All-NBA selection in particular, are an offensive engine unto themselves, a pound-the-ball playmaker like Luka Dončić across this Finals floor, has left the margins for both Celtics All-Stars to be scrutinized when their absolute best performances are absent from the biggest moments.
Several of Tatum’s powerful drives on Sunday night, for his latest trial by Twitter, resulted in the ball trickling on the rim long enough to spin off and into the hands of a Mavericks rebounder. His step-back this postseason has been spotty from 3-point land and the midrange alike. When Tatum cashed his only triple of Game 2, on a swing-swing-swing sequence late in the third, he bobbed his head with relief far more than pride. “Obviously I need to shoot better,” Tatum said. “Gah-lee …”
Tatum, though, functioned as more of a facilitator than Dončić this evening, as was the case in Game 1 as well — when Tatum posted 5 helpers to Dončić’s single setup. Tatum racked up 8 assists by intermission Sunday evening before finishing with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 12 dimes. “It wasn’t like I had to do anything spectacular,” Tatum said. “It was just about finding the open guy.” Dallas has made him contort through crowds whenever he’s probed the paint — often…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/2024-nba-finals-jayson-tatum-is-focused-on-whatever-it-takes-to-help-celtics-win-like-it-or-not-053908156.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-06-10 05:39:08
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