Brotherhood Playoff Watch: Jayson Tatum Is Not Shooting Well, But It May Not Matter Very Much
Boston has the advantage, but if Luka Doncic is limited, that may be the final nail in Dallas’s coffin
Jayson Tatum gets heat about his playoff performances seemingly every year. It’s fair and unfair. He is an elite player and the measure of elite players, ultimately, is winning. It’s true for Stephen Curry and LeBron James as it was for Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan before him.
Fair or not, that’s the way it is. The perception of Giannis Antetokounmpo changed after he won his. That’s life in the NBA.
This year, Tatum isn’t shooting very well, but he’s doing everything else very well indeed. His rebounding, passing, and defense are making up for the shooting and gives him a leg-up on winning this year’s championship. Boston is up 2-0 and that’s a great start. If they can go up 3-0 with a win in Dallas Wednesday, that’s pretty much the series: no team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit.
Tatum’s shooting isn’t as big of a deal as people make it out to be, although in a different year it could be. Not this year though. The big deal right now are a pair of injured players, one for Boston and one for Dallas.
In Boston’s case, Kristaps Porzingis has what’s been called a “rare” injury. According to ESPN, Porzingis has “ a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg.“ It’s hard to know how serious it is, but we saw what a difference he can make in Game 1 and he wasn't bad in Game 2 either. Apparently he’s listed as questionable for Game 3.
That’s better than Luka Doncic, who had to have a pain shot for Game 2 and may have to get another for Game 3.
Like Tatum, Doncic has taken a lot of criticism too. A video on Twitter showed him playing “matador” defense, but it’s very possible that that was the best he could do. He’s had some tough injuries in this year’s playoffs, and like Bird and Jordan before him, has pushed through.
His status puts extra pressure on Kyrie Irving, who also hasn’t played very well, largely due to the outstanding defense provided by Jrue Holiday.
If you want to sum it up in a nutshell, Boston has far more room for error than does Dallas, and if Tatum can turn his shooting around, life for Dallas is going to get more difficult still.
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