{"id":71181,"date":"2024-03-30T16:47:48","date_gmt":"2024-03-30T20:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=71181"},"modified":"2024-03-30T16:47:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T20:47:48","slug":"celtics-jayson-tatum-responds-clutch-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/30\/celtics-jayson-tatum-responds-clutch-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Leader Responds to Clutch Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Boston Celtics forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tatumja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jayson Tatum<\/a> is a star player; a five-time All-Star. However, in those high-pressure moments when stars are supposed to shine, Tatum\u2019s brightness is blocked by some large celestial body, allowing teammates and opponents to eclipse him.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Ignore Brown being highlighted here <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iB3s9vfJDi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/iB3s9vfJDi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 sfhoops (@_sfhoops) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_sfhoops\/status\/1773528990621270243?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Jayson Tatum Responds to Clutch Concerns<\/h2>\n<p>On Thursday, Tatum again felt cold sweats with the game on the line. The Atlanta Hawks had just completed <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/26\/hawks-make-history-against-eastern-conference-finals-contender\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">their largest comeback in franchise history<\/a> when they came back to beat the Celtics on Monday, Mar. 25. The Hawks managed to keep it close throughout the game in their next matchup, leading to another closely contested fourth quarter.<\/p>\n<p>With five and a half minutes remaining, the Celtics were up 102-101. A back-and-forth ensued, and Tatum threatened to break the Hawks with a stepback three that put them back up 108-106. 71 seconds, Hawks shooting specialist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogdabo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bogdan Bogdanovic<\/a> hit a stepback three of his own to tie the game, 112-112.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"de\">sehrthgrth <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uEMYmSS1dV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/uEMYmSS1dV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ben Hustle (@BenHustle4) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BenHustle4\/status\/1773525935293071830?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Tatum faltered, missing a driving layup while guarded by Hawks two-way signing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/krejcvi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vit Krejci<\/a>. He missed the tip. He finally made the putback with 1:59 remaining, but it was the last shot he would make in the quarter. Tatum then missed another gimme\u2019 around the rim, this time attempting to bowl over Hawks hero <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murrade01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dejounte Murray<\/a>. His last shot, the game-winning attempt, was an ill-advised three against a Hawks double-team.<\/p>\n<p>In overtime, Tatum would convert his only field attempt, driving for an and-one against Murray. However, Murray outscored the Celtics 11-10 by himself, and Atlanta escaped with their second win over the best team in the NBA.<\/p>\n<p>Describing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2024\/03\/29\/sports\/celtics-losses-concerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">his thought process<\/a> as he took his errant game-winning attempt, Tatum says: \u201cI was trying to get a clean look\u201d (per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe).<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cHold it for the last shot, making sure they didn\u2019t get the ball (back). You can always go back and see something that you could have probably done differently, especially when you lose.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Addressing his play in the clutch as a whole as he went 3-6 in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime, he says \u201cI know I missed a couple this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, while cognizant of his underwhelming performances in the final seconds, he doesn\u2019t appear to have lost his confidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026I [have to] be due for one,\u201d Tatum says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a bunch of them in my career so far. It\u2019s part of it, make-or-miss league. But I really do enjoy being in those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tatum leads the Celtics with 83 points when there\u2019s a five-point differential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/players\/clutch-traditional?ClutchTime=Last%205%20Minutes&amp;GameSegment=&amp;PerMode=Totals&amp;TeamID=1610612738&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=PTS\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at the end of either half<\/a>. However, he\u2019s shooting just 36.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent in those situations. Only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pritcpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Payton Pritchard<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kornelu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke Kornet<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hausesa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sam Hauser<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sprinja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaden Springer<\/a> \u2014a combined 2-8 from the field \u2014have lower field percentages.<\/p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/players\/clutch-traditional?ClutchTime=Last%2010%20Seconds&amp;GameSegment=Second%20Half&amp;PerMode=Totals&amp;TeamID=1610612738&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=PTS\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">last 10 seconds<\/a> of the fourth quarter, Tatum is 2-9 from the field.<\/p>\n<p>Numbers unbecoming of a player of his status, Tatum\u2019s decision-making down the stretch has to improve. If not, neither he nor the Celtics will likely reach <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/15\/nba-sees-first-team-clinch-playoff-berth-for-2024-playoffs-boston-celtics\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">their full potential<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is a star player; a five-time All-Star. However, in those high-pressure moments when stars are supposed to shine, Tatum\u2019s brightness is blocked by some large celestial body, allowing teammates and opponents to eclipse him. Ignore Brown being highlighted here pic.twitter.com\/iB3s9vfJDi \u2014 sfhoops (@_sfhoops) March 29, 2024 Jayson Tatum Responds to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":71229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,1608,62,3],"tags":[798],"class_list":["post-71181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celtics","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-jayson-tatum"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}