As a lot because it appeared just like the Celtics season ended as quickly as Jayson Tatum was carried off the courtroom, there’s nonetheless at the very least one recreation left to play. We’re about to get a style of what life goes to be for the following 12 months (or so) with out him.
Tatum’s recreation 4 was a reminder of simply how essential he’s to this crew. It wasn’t simply the 42 factors. It was additionally the 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks, and usually being proper the place he was wanted. He was Roy Kent (He’s right here, he’s there, he’s in all places”). He’s not an ideal participant, however he’s proper up there within the prime 4 or 5 greatest gamers in the complete league. And now for the foreseeable future, he’s gone.
Detractors of Tatum wish to level out that he has a “superteam” round him. Individuals who get pleasure from MVP race debates (which all the time bore me) like to get into lengthy philosophical debates over “What would occur for those who simply take this participant off that actually good crew?” Effectively, seize your popcorn people, as a result of that state of affairs is about to play out in Sport 5.
I’ve some ideas and predictions.
We’ll get a preview of what a crew led by Jaylen Brown would appear like. Positive, Tatum has missed the occasional recreation right here and there. Most lately in recreation 2 of the primary spherical. Noa level out that Brown stepped up bigtime in that win.
Jayson Tatum was sidelined for one recreation towards the Orlando Magic whereas coping with a proper wrist bone bruise, and Brown was instrumental within the win, tallying 36 factors on 12-19 taking pictures, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists.
We’ll must see how Brown fares towards the Knicks tonight. He’s been slowed by nagging accidents, so it won’t be fully honest to guage. However (barring an enormous commerce) he’s going to be the featured man subsequent season. He’s going to wish to essentially concentrate on his playmaking and choice making course of. He can’t get tunnel imaginative and prescient for complete quarters anymore.
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Photographs
My guess is that Brown will put collectively a pleasant field rating, if solely as a result of he’ll get plenty of touches, which might get you right into a rhythm. He’s additionally a gamer who by no means shies away from a problem. However he’s not outfitted to do all of the little issues that Tatum can do. And there’s the trickle-down impact as nicely. If Brown is taking part in the Tatum position, who’s stepping up into Brown’s shot weight-reduction plan?
The apparent reply is extra Derrick White. He’s the following greatest creator and I’m by no means mad at giving him extra touches. However he goes from being a launch valve and additional wave attacker to being a main choice. We’re additionally going to wish to see much more touches go to Payton Pritchard (which could have been a great choice earlier within the collection).
I predict that there could possibly be a rise in ball motion, at the very least early on. As nice as Tatum is at making the correct basketball performs, he typically goes into Mamba-mode on the expense of transferring the ball round and bending the protection. With that mentioned, typically moments within the playoffs boil right down to discovering the correct matchup and exploiting it, and no person on this crew can do this in addition to Tatum.
Not a prediction, however I hope we see a spirited effort from Porzingis. He’s the wildcard choice you want in conditions like this however to this point in these playoffs he’s been restricted at greatest. If he can’t be efficient, we’ve got to lean much more closely on Al Horford (once more).
It is going to be attention-grabbing to see who picks up a number of the rotation minutes. It would simply be extra minutes for the rotation guys. Does Baylor Scheierman make an look? Can we get some spot minutes from Torrey Craig? Maybe a Queta look?
It isn’t laborious to think about the Celtics taking part in impressed ball and profitable the sport on the Backyard tonight. If Brown is cooking, the ball is transferring, White and Pritchard are bombing away from 3, and Jrue leads the best way to an impressed defensive effort, we may actually steal a recreation.
Regardless, it is going to be a really attention-grabbing recreation, outlined extra by a participant not taking part in in it than the blokes on the courtroom. One thing we’ll all sadly must get used to.
