A miscue by the Celtics’ best player doomed Boston in the closing seconds of its Game 2 loss.
One day after the New York Knicks stunned their Atlantic Division rivals 91-90 to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Jayson Tatum shouldered the blame for the Celtics’ ugly final possession. With Boston down one, he dribbled diagonally into traffic and was unable to get a shot off while being swarmed by Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby.
“I just kind of made the wrong read,” Tatum said Thursday. “Went into a crowded area. Obviously, if I had that opportunity again, or the next time it presented itself, just have a different outcome. But I take responsibility for us not at least getting a shot up at the end of the game.”
It was a discouraging end to another underwhelming performance by Boston’s centerpiece superstar, who struggled in Games 1 and 2 against New York after dominating the Orlando Magic in the opening round of the NBA playoffs. Tatum went 12-for-42 from the field and 5-for-20 from 3-point range over the two losses, both of which featured blown 20-point second-half leads by the defending champion Celtics.
“I take full ownership of the way that I’ve played in this series,” Tatum said. “And I can’t sugarcoat anything — I need to be better. I expect to be a lot better.”
He isn’t the only Celtics shooter who’s scuffling.
Boston’s field-goal percentages in Games 1 and 2 (35.1% and 36.2%, respectively) were its two worst of the season. The Celtics went 25-for-100 on 3-point attempts and were especially erratic during New York’s late-game comebacks. They were 4-for-21 (4-for-15 from three) in the fourth quarter of Game 1 and 5-for-24 (2-for-11) in the fourth in Game 2.
And that’s despite the vast majority of their long-range attempts coming on clean looks. Seventy-five of their 3-pointers in the series were classified as “open” or “wide-open” by NBA player tracking, meaning there was not a defender within four feet of the shoot.
“We have a way that we play,” Tatum said. “We have an identity, and it can’t waver just because we missing shots. We can’t change who we are. And I always say, you’ve got to be the same person when things are going well and when things aren’t going well. And it’s not about our season being two games from over. Like, that hasn’t crossed any of our minds. We got a game on Saturday at 3:30 that should be a lot of fun. If you’re a competitor, you should really look forward to that moment. We put ourselves in this position, and we got a game on Saturday that we’re all looking forward to.”
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla expects a bounce-back performance from his top scorer as the series shifts to Madison Square Garden for a must-win Game 3.
“I appreciate the fact that he would (take responsibility), but I think it’s on everybody,” Mazzulla said. “We all could be better. I could be better in the things that I can help our team execute on. Our entire team can be better, and yeah, he can, too. It just says who he is, taking responsibility for that, and I expect him to be better. There’s no doubt in my mind.”