Tatum’s strong start pivotal against Brooklyn

Through 13 games this season, Jayson Tatum has been on a mission to start games strong. He leads the NBA in first-quarter scoring at 11.5 points.

After the embarrassing loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday, I was looking for Boston’s stars to step up, mostly Jayson Tatum after he had a quiet game by his high standards.

When the game started, Tatum was at his best. Although it was difficult for the Boston Celtics to score as the Nets made them work for every point, Tatum was there getting to his spots, one of which was eventually voted as the Play of the Game.

Tatum finished the first quarter with 13 points including scoring the team’s final six points to cut the Brooklyn Nets’ lead to two. Coming out of the gates hot sets the tone for both teams. It shows the Celtics that their star is giving his all even if it’s just a Wednesday game against a team that may not make the playoffs, if he’s going strong, everyone around him has to. It also sends a message to the opposition that it’s going to be a long night for them if Boston’s star has a strong start.

Tatum was asked postgame by NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin how much responsibility he puts on himself to respond following a disappointing loss.

“[I] Just wanted to bounce back. That’s the good thing about the NBA, there’s always another game. Whether it’s in two days, one day, or the next day,” Tatum said. “We didn’t feel great on the plane last night, but we were excited for another opportunity to respond, I knew we were going to play well today.”

Tatum also acknowledged that it’s a long season and even though they didn’t like that they lost, it’s important to not get “too low.”

“For one being in the league for seven seasons now, the NBA is like a rollercoaster. Emotionally, the more staying-level you can stay at, I think the better you’ll be. You can’t get too high on wins or too low on losses,” Tatum said. “Not saying you sweep them under the rug. You acknowledge what transpired and why you lost and we did that. We’re all professionals and knew we could play better and we dropped the ball on things. But the sign of a really good team is how you respond and coming off a back-to-back we were down Al and just played this team and took it to overtime. I think we responded in a great way.”

What I enjoyed most about Tatum’s performance was his shot selection. Earlier this season after the Pacers game, the All-Star spoke about not liking his shot selection after going 5-of-18 from three. When Jayson doesn’t have his shot going from deep, there are times when it looks like he just continues to jack up threes hoping it’ll eventually go in. Instead, Tatum had a couple of nice moves finishing with his left hand which he spoke about postgame.

“I just take what the defense gives me. I work really hard at this game and put a lot into it. I like to credit myself for being able to do a bit of everything,” Tatum said.

“I didn’t necessarily play well. Yesterday, I turned the ball over too much. I just wanted to get back on track and try to dominate the game the best I could,” he said.

Against Brooklyn, his shot was falling, but he was mixing it up. He shot 5-of-6 from beyond the arc and his threes were opened up by his threat of attacking the paint which he did countless times.

Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images

To start the second half, I didn’t think Tatum could play much better and he proved me wrong. He scored 15 points in the third to really put a stamp on the game and to send a message to Brooklyn that they had no hope.

Being led by your star in both halves shows how locked in he is. No one person can do it themselves, but by Tatum being aggressive and making the right play, whether it’s scoring or facilitating (he finished 10 assists), he gets the other guys to follow him.

Tatum was asked what has changed since he’s having his best season in regards to assists and steals and his second best season in regards to scoring.

“It’s only 13 games so there’s still a long way to go before we can compare it to other seasons. Getting older and being in better physical shape. Being 26 this is the best physically I’ve felt compared to other years…,” Tatum said.

Each season, I look for what players do differently than in the previous season and for Tatum, it’s clear: start the game hot and set the tone. Against Brooklyn, he did it in both halves which was pivotal in Boston’s win.