Jayson Tatum arrived in Game 3 against the Pacers, but he never left in the first place (2024)

“I feel like they’re not watching everything else that I’m doing, but [it’s] not my job to focus on that [or] give it any attention. My job is to be the best player I can be for our team on any given night. Yeah, I would love to make every shot I take, and I know I can shoot better, and I will. But at this time of the season, as long as we win and we’re trending in the right direction, I know me. Scoring will come.”

That was Jayson Tatum after the Boston Celtics’ Game 3 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Round 2 of the playoffs. He was asked about his relationship with the media and their incessant criticism of his game. “I don’t always agree with the things that they say, but when they’re fair, and they take emotions out of it, whatever way that they’re leaning toward, [if] they’re fair, I respect it,” said Tatum.

Tatum’s shooting hasn’t been there this postseason. He’s sitting at a cool 29.2% from deep. As guys like Anthony Edwards glimmer in the limelight of the national media, Tatum’s woes have been a focal point of discussions -- Boston’s now 11-2 playoff record be damned.

In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday night, Tatum finally put it all together.

As the Tyrese Haliburton-less Indiana Pacers unleashed a hailstorm of twos en route to an 18-point first-half lead, Tatum quietly kept the Celtics afloat. A 15-point first quarter was underscored by strong drives to the hoop and, perhaps most notably, two threes.

“I never get concerned about my shots or anything,” said Tatum. “I always feel like the next one is going to go in. Just always stick with my routine, shoot with confidence, make the right plays, and it normally works out.”

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The second quarter delivered a gut-punch for Boston as Indiana’s onslaught from inside the arc continued, and mid-way through the third, the Celtics looked all but finished.

Yet Tatum stayed steady.

His scoring outburst resumed in the third, but he took a calculated, hard-nosed approach. An offensive rebound-induced score. A tough drive through Aaron Nesmith’s chest for an and-one. A picture-perfect screen for Derrick White to set himself up for an open three. It wasn’t fancy. There weren’t any frills. Just a methodical approach of picking apart Indiana’s defense, which Boston was finally starting to crack.

Then came the fourth quarter. The Celtics were inching toward a comeback. Andrew Nembhard and company had done everything in their power to fend off the Jaws theme song, but it seemed like Boston smelled blood in the water.

“Once we embraced the fact that we were down double digits on the road in a Game 3 against Indiana, I thought it was pretty fun,” said Joe Mazzulla. “And so, I loved just the approach that we took. I loved the mindset that we had.”

All game, Tatum had been scoring with ease. He was efficient, effective, and finally kicking the slump that had been trailing him through the Celtics’ first 12 games of the playoffs.

But as Boston slowly clawed their way back, needing just one final push to get them over the edge, Tatum did the job he described so succinctly: “My job is to be the best player I can be for our team on any given night.”

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Tatum’s scoring had spearheaded the Celtics’ offense, but the same player who buried the Pacers with buckets for three quarters flipped his focus in an instant.

Fresh off a pair of Nembhard free throws with just over a minute to go, the Celtics needed points. An empty possession would give Indiana a chance to extend their five-point lead into a two-possession game. White dribbled the ball at the top of the key and fed Tatum, who was sprinting around an Al Horford screen.

After catching the ball at the wing, Tatum drove into the paint. A night of aggression and a postseason-long drought had all led to this moment—a chance to be the hero. And he was. But it looked different.

Rather than soaring up into contact, Tatum dished out a behind-the-back dime to a waiting Horford, who had sunk back into the corner.

Cash.

“Hang it in the f****** Louvre,” Jaylen Brown said of the pass.

All night, Tatum had been a scorer, but in the final frame, he tallied four assists to help the Celtics get over the hump. And this one was his Mona Lisa.

“It’s pretty special,” Horford said of the play. “He drove to the basket. He felt like he had a lane. I don’t know how he got it there. He had to improvise. He just continued to, time after time, make the right play. That was an unbelievable play that he made. At that point for me, it was just taking my time and knocking it down.”

Horford’s three brought Boston to within two points, and Jrue Holiday took the Celtics home, scoring five points in the final 39 seconds of the game.

Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

Tatum finished the night with 36 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists while shooting 12/23 from the field and 5/10 from three. He didn’t turn the ball over once. It was easily his best scoring night of the postseason, but when it was closing time, Tatum maintained both his poise and his philosophies.

His shot has come and gone in waves, and the tide has been out for most of the postseason. But every other part of his game has been invariant. From little things like screens and off-ball positioning to big-picture items such as rebounding and defense, Tatum’s been crucial to Boston’s postseason success.

It just hasn’t been in a way that pleases the general public.

Stars are supposed to score. They’re supposed to be perfect in every aspect of the word. They’re supposed to scream and yell and bully their way to the top.

That first expectation is narrow-minded, the second is unreasonable, and the third isn’t who Tatum is.

Game 3 saw Tatum finally snap out of his efficiency funk. Everything went his way. But he doesn’t need that to be successful, and Boston doesn’t need that to be successful.

Tatum is unabashedly himself, and whether the shots are falling or not, that’s perfect for the Celtics.