There have been a lot of positives since Jayson Tatum returned to Boston. The Celtics went 6-2 in the games he played, and he scored 20 or more points in five games and had several double-doubles.
And then there are nights like Sunday, when he shot 6-for-16 in a loss to Minnesota. After the game, he spoke about the frustrating process of finding his way back and days off, via Adam Himmelsbach, The Boston Globe.
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“It’s a tough moment, right? You try not to think about it. You just want to be Jayson Tatum and feel like yourself again. I’m not Superman, so, obviously, it takes some time. I think the next day I could give myself a little more grace on some things, but in that moment, I mean, it’s frustrating.”
Although Tatum has produced statistics, his efficiency has not yet recovered. He shot 38.8% overall and 29.3% from three-point range, and has yet to shoot better than 50% in any game. That said, he’s still grabbing 8.9 rebounds a night and contributing to wins, but he’s finding his role next to Jaylen Brown.
Before the game, Brown said in an interview with NBC that communication between him and Tatum is crucial to the team.
While the second-seeded Celtics have been looking at the standings to catch short-handed Detroit for the No. 1 seed, they would be better off focusing on winning to stop the third-seeded Knicks — New York is just a half-game away from the No. 2 seed. Boston needs Tatum for this.
