Since being drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2017, Jayson Tatum has always been the soft-spoken type. I’m not sure there’s ever been an instance where he’s said something that’s made me go, “Wait, what’d he say?”
It just doesn’t happen with JT.
The summer of 2024 was one full of scrutiny and criticism for Tatum, despite him and the Cs capturing the franchise’s 18th NBA title in June, and he STILL never got defensive.
Mind you, some of this stuff was ridiculous. From criticizing his reactions to winning a championship, to saying he lacks “aura,” it got pretty silly. On top of that, he found himself watching from the sidelines during the Olympics.
“Definitely a humbling experience, right?” Tatum told The Athletic’s Joe Vardon of his benching at the Olympics. “Win a championship, new contract, cover of (NBA) 2K and then you sit a whole game. Cover of Sports Illustrated. So, it was definitely a humbling experience.”
Though he never responded to any of the critics, Tatum heard the noise.
“It was a lot. In the age of social media, you see everything,” Tatum told The Athletic’s Jared Weiss back in August. “You see all the tweets and the people on the podcasts and people on TV giving their opinion on whether they thought it was a good decision or it was an outrageous decision or whatever.
It’s almost like he sat there, stewing, all summer long and then took it all out on the New York Knicks on Opening Night and he let his game do his talking.
Tuesday’s performance may have been the most dominant of No. 0’s NBA career. It was evident right from the opening tip when he poured in 15 first-quarter points.
Tatum finished the night with 37 points on an efficient 13-17 from the field. He was efficient in his passing as well. He dished out 10 assists while committing just one turnover. Even the passes that didn’t directly result in an assist were absolutely surgical.
According to longtime Celtics stat guru, Dick Lipe, Tatum’s performance was historically efficient.
In their history, the Celtics have played 6,115 regular season games and 738 playoff games.
Jayson Tatum is the first Celtic to ever amass at least 36 points and 10 assists while shooting at least 75%.
— Dick Lipe (@DickLipe) October 23, 2024
“I’m proud of how he shot the ball and dominated in all of the areas,” said Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla. “He picked his spots really well, took the shots that he wanted. The guy just works hard every day. He doesn’t allow things to get in the way of what’s most important. That showed tonight.”
Per usual, Tatum didn’t speak much on the criticism that he received over the summer, but rather credited the team as a whole for their high level of play and the work that they put in at practice.
“I thought we picked up from where we left off last year. We brought almost everybody back. We played to our strengths and we know what we’re trying to do. We know the sets and actions to get into and we work on that all the time. Work on reads, you know, every single day at practice.”
That’s what they say about character.
It’s how you act when no one is watching.
