Beantown Rundown: Jayson Tatum’s struggles an underlying concern amid Celtics hot start to playoffs

The 2023-24 campaign was a year of maturation for Tatum with the Celtics. His numbers took a step back from last season (26.9 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 4.9 APG, 47.1 FG%), but that was largely because of the increase in options Boston had at his disposal. Tatum’s scoring decreased a bit because he did not have to take as many shots as he had been taking over the past three seasons.

To an extent, that’s why the C’s have been able to get by without Tatum doing much so far this postseason. After his latest poor shooting night, Tatum’s numbers through the team’s first six playoff games (21.2 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 5.3 APG, 40.6 FG%) are fairly underwhelming. It’s been great to see Tatum work hard as a rebounder and playmaker, but his scoring has left a lot to be desired.

Thankfully, Brown (24.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 54.5 FG%) and White (22.8 PPG, 3.5 APG, 3.2 RPG, 57.5 FG%) have picked up the slack to this point. Brown has been dominating on offense by relentlessly attacking the paint and getting to his spots in the midrange game, while White is shooting a blistering 50 percent from behind the arc through these first six games.

That’s the luxury of having three 20-point per game scorers at your disposal, and another one lurking on the sidelines in Kristaps Porzingis as he works his way back from a soleus strain. But at some point, Tatum is going to have to step up for Boston and find a way to hit some shots on offense if this team wants to make good on their championship aspirations.

We have seen Tatum struggle at times in the playoffs, with the most glaring example of that coming in the 2022 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. That was the final series, though, in what had been a grueling postseason slate for the Celtics. Tatum ran out of gas against a high-powered Golden State defense, which was somewhat understandable considering the circumstances.

This time, he doesn’t have the same excuses. Boston easily took down an overmatched Miami Heat squad in the first-round, and they quickly showed that when they are at their best, there is a sizable skill gap between themselves and the Cavaliers in the first game of this series. With all the favorable matchups he is getting with the ball in his hands, it’s almost inconceivable that he is playing as poorly as he has been early on in the playoffs.

There are a couple of issues that are hurting Jayson Tatum currently. He’s settling way too often for jumpers, either from behind the arc or at the midrange level, that are not falling. He’s shooting just 25 percent from three so far, including an o-for-5 performance to open the series against Cleveland.

Perhaps more confusingly, though, is that Tatum has shown an aversion to attacking the paint against overmatched defenders. Against the Heat, Tatum was hunting mismatches against the likes of Tyler Herro, Delon Wright, and Duncan Robinson, yet he rarely found his way to the paint against them. On the other hand, Brown has been making a living so far by barreling through these mismatches on his way to the rim for easy buckets.

Against Cleveland, Tatum is going to have these mismatches at his disposal every single time he touches the ball. Neither Donovan Mitchell or Darius Garland are going to be able to do much against him defensively, and while Evan Mobley is one of the better all-around defenders in the game, the Cavs interior defense is going to be lacking for as long as Jarrett Allen is forced to sit on the sidelines as he nurses a rib injury.

Once he gets his game going in the paint, that’s when Tatum can create more space for his jumpers. Isaac Okoro will likely be doing his best to shadow Tatum throughout this series, and truth be told, Cleveland did a good job of making his life difficult on offense for much of the night. But he’s also playing into their hands by settling for tough jumpers when he has the ability to get to the rim at will against the Cavaliers undersized perimeter defenders.

It’s a tough balance to find, and whereas Brown and White have figured out what they need to do on offense pretty quickly, Tatum is still trying to find a way to get going. It’s encouraging to see them play as well as they have with his offensive numbers lagging behind, and he’s stepped up his efforts as a rebounder and playmaker in order to compensate for these woes.

But at some point, Jayson Tatum is going to have to step up and become the best player on the Celtics. They haven’t faced much adversity to this point in the postseason, but that’s going to change the further they go in the playoffs. And when the lights are shining brightest, they are often going to shine on Tatum. So far, he hasn’t been at his best for Boston, and while it’s great that it hasn’t impacted them yet, there will be a bit of lingering concern among the team and their fans for as long as these struggles continue.