Luckily for the Celtics, Jayson Tatum’s career progression has come with an ever-increasing skill set and an ever-increasing set of shoulders. Tatum carries a massive burden for the Celtics offensively across those shoulders, which are starting look like a homage to Dwight Howard. But Tatum’s value isn’t in being a one-way offensive star; it’s the combination of his offensive ability and how incredibly good he’s become as a defender.
Joe Mazzulla doesn’t shy away from testing the limits of Tatum’s defensive abilities, and this series he’s tasked him with his biggest matchup yet (literally). Tatum has guarded Evan Mobley for 10 minutes more than any other Celtic in the series, and for almost exactly the same amount of time as Al Horford and Luke Kornet have combined. In other words, Tatum is playing center on defense.
The thinking is two-fold. For one, it lets Al Horford ignore Isaac Okoro and play the defensive roamer position made famous by Robert Williams. The results of Horford playing free safety have been mixed, but that’s got nothing to do with Tatum’s performance on Mobley.
Second, it limits the Cavs’ ability to run pick-and-roll with Mobley as the screen setter where they like to feature him prominently without Jarrett Allen. In any pick-and-roll featuring a Boston defender that isn’t Derrick White or Payton Pritchard, Tatum can just switch onto the ball handler, where he has been mostly great.
The next possession LaVert starts as the ballhandler with Tatum on him and Jrue on Mitchell. Instead of working an action to get Hauser or PP on Mitchell, they force the switch with LaVert. Congratulations, you have Tatum on you with 5 seconds on the shot clock. https://t.co/NxPHw08F4C pic.twitter.com/8lDFrmQ90N
— Wayne Spooney (@WSpooney) May 8, 2024
That’s not to say he hasn’t been beat at times, but Donovan Mitchell cooks just about everyone a few times in a playoff series. His combination of explosive athleticism and shifty handles is difficult for even the best defenders.
He’s also occasionally been involved in miscommunications on high pick-and-rolls that result in open pull-ups for the Cavs. It’s hard to tell who is at fault, but it seems Tatum sometimes drops when the guard expects him to switch.
But that’s picking nits. He’s otherwise been a massive positive for the Celtics against the Cavs’ number one weapon.
Deploying Tatum as the center means he’s got to be very active as a helper at the rim, a challenge he and his shoulders have snatched with aplomb. Cavs players’ field goal percentage drops 6.7% when they take shots within 5 feet that are guarded by Tatum. That doesn’t sniff the elite rim protectors of the league who often reduce FG% by over 10%, but it’s worlds better than his -0.6% from the regular season. He’s excellent at reading the play and has been contesting without fouling.
Tatum’s asked to do a lot of different things defensively this series, including help at the rim. Bar a few miscommunications, he’s been mostly excellent. pic.twitter.com/at3WR2KKxd
— Wayne Spooney (@WSpooney) May 14, 2024
He’s averaging 1.3 blocks per game against the Cavs, many of them loud. But others highlight his intelligence and how quick his hands are. Watch him on this play as he doesn’t commit to help on the Mitchell drive until it’s necessary. He somehow swipes at the ball and gets it clean leaving Mitchell confused as to what even happened.
Tatum’s also a strong, active post defender. He’s made Mobley’s life difficult.
Mobley is shooting 75% against Tatum, which, on first glance, seems bad. The good news is that it’s only on 8 FGAs. Tatum has also forced him into 4 turnovers. For comparison, Mobley has taken 13 shots against Al and 15 against Luke. Preventing shots on post-ups, which are usually very near the rim, is just as important as impacting them, and Tatum’s done well to limit Mobley throughout the series. He’s turned Mobley towards his worst instinct: passivity.
Finally, if you’re going to play center, you need to rebound, which is a skill Tatum has dedicated himself to all season. This series is no exception. He’s easily leading the team in rebounding at 10.5 per game in the series, and his 23.6% defensive rebounding percentage leads the Celtics by a massive 6.8%. He’s also, somewhat shockingly, second on the team in box outs (The NBA’s box out tracking numbers are really wonky and I think wrong. They seem to think teams box out about 10 times a game.). His 2.8 contested rebounds a game is second only behind Luke Kornet.
Mazzulla has deployed Tatum on centers at times during the season, but the fun is in watching him trust Tatum to do it for long stretches in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Joe tasked Tatum with something taxing and difficult, and he’s rising to the challenge. The lesson? Never bet against someone with shoulders the size of your head.
