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 least one sport left to play. We’re about to get a style of what life goes to be for the subsequent yr (or so) with out him.
Tatum’s sport 4 was a reminder of simply how necessary he’s to this group. It wasn’t simply the 42 factors. It was additionally the 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks, and customarily being proper the place he was wanted. He was Roy Kent (He’s right here, he’s there, he’s in every single place”). He’s not an ideal participant, however he’s proper up there within the high 4 or 5 finest gamers in the complete league. And now for the foreseeable future, he’s gone.
Detractors of Tatum prefer to level out that he has a “superteam” round him. Individuals who get pleasure from MVP race debates (which at all times bore me) like to get into lengthy philosophical debates over “What would occur when you simply take this participant off that actually good group?” Nicely, seize your popcorn people, as a result of that situation is about to play out in Recreation 5.
I’ve some ideas and predictions.
We’ll get a preview of what a group led by Jaylen Brown would seem like. Certain, Tatum has missed the occasional sport right here and there. Most lately in sport 2 of the primary spherical. Noa level out that Brown stepped up bigtime in that win.
Jayson Tatum was sidelined for one sport in opposition to the Orlando Magic whereas coping with a proper wrist bone bruise, and Brown was instrumental within the win, tallying 36 factors on 12-19 capturing, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists.
We’ll must see how Brown fares in opposition to the Knicks tonight. He’s been slowed by nagging accidents, so it may not be fully truthful to evaluate. 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.
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My guess is that Brown will put collectively a pleasant field rating, if solely as a result of he’ll get loads 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 geared up 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 function, who’s stepping up into Brown’s shot weight loss program?
The plain reply is extra Derrick White. He’s the subsequent finest creator and I’m by no means mad at giving him extra touches. However he goes from being a launch valve and further wave attacker to being a main possibility. We’re additionally going to wish to see much more touches go to Payton Pritchard (which could have been possibility earlier within the collection).
I predict that there might be a rise in ball motion, at the least early on. As nice as Tatum is at making the precise basketball performs, he generally goes into Mamba-mode on the expense of shifting the ball round and bending the protection. With that stated, generally moments within the playoffs boil all the way down to discovering the precise matchup and exploiting it, and no person on this group can do this in addition to Tatum.
Not a prediction, however I hope we see a spirited effort from Porzingis. He’s the wildcard possibility you want in conditions like this however up to now in these playoffs he’s been restricted at finest. If he can’t be efficient, we’ve got to lean much more closely on Al Horford (once more).
It will likely be fascinating to see who picks up a few of the rotation minutes. It’d 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 exhausting to think about the Celtics taking part in impressed ball and successful the sport on the Backyard tonight. If Brown is cooking, the ball is shifting, White and Pritchard are bombing away from 3, and Jrue leads the way in which to an impressed defensive effort, we might definitely steal a sport.
Regardless, will probably be a really fascinating sport, 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.
