The Time Has Come For People To Accept That We Are Witnessing Something Truly Special When It Comes To Jayson Tatum

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

Entering the playoffs, we all pretty much said the same thing about this series against the Magic. It was going to be a nice challenge given their roster construction and how they are able to defend, but at the end of the day, the Celtics should still be able to handle things relatively quickly.

Now having completed the first round, I'd say that's pretty much exactly how it went. The Magic challenged the Celts in all of the ways we thought they would, from the physicality to the ability to completely take away their 3PAs, all while not being able to score. Personally, that's why I wanted this matchup over the Hawks. Not that there would have been trouble with either, but because these are the types of reps the Celts are going to have to figure out down the road. I know they can bomb threes and crush bad defenses. I have eyes.

But what I wanted to see was them find a way to victory when they have to adjust, when Mazzulla Ball needs to mold into whatever the game needs, and this teams figuring things out against an elite defense. All of that happened.

And while you'll definitely hear some "who cares, a 7 seed beat 2 seed" from people today as they begin their 2025 coping sessions in an attempt to discredit yet another Celtics playoff series win, you should never, ever, ever take these moments for granted. Winning playoff games is hard, and winning a series is even harder. 

The Celts have now won 20 of their last 24 playoff games and 5 straight playoff series.

Please take a moment and appreciate that. Understand how rare that is. In fact, we've never, EVER seen a Celtics team have a postseason run like this. Ever. In their entire existence

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That is certainly not lost on me. As someone who was molded by the Darkness of the Rick Pitino Era, while winning a first round series is obviously not the goal, I'll never take this shit for granted. This is Basketball Valhalla. 

The expectation entering the playoffs was that the Celts would not only win this series but also win it quickly. As they have so many times before, they answered the call. 

Let's talk about it.

The Good

- The last time we spoke, I told you that you are now basically required by law to begin your day every day by thanking the Basketball Gods for gifting us Jayson Tatum. I'm starting to think you all listened and joined me in these daily morning prayers, because what we just witnessed last night wasn't just the stuff of basketball legends, it was the stuff of Basketball Gods. 

I'm not sure people fully realize, or maybe they do realize but they simply refuse to accept it. We are witnessing something truly special when it comes to Jayson Tatum. I'm talking not just in Celtics history, but in NBA history. We are watching a legendary player in every sense of the word.

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Mind you, this all came against the #2 ranked defense in the NBA, and Tatum did it on basically 1 wrist. For the series, Tatum put up a casual 31/11/5 on 44/36% splits with a 60% TS%. Objectively, he's been no worse than the 2nd best player in the entire playoff field, and it might not be close. 

Who else in the playoffs is giving you 31/11/5? It's not a long list. Here it is

Giannis

Jayson Tatum

That's it. That's the list.

Already one of the best closeout game players in the NBA (26.5/9.5/6.5), this was about as vintage a Tatum closeout performance as you're going to get. You'll remember, the last time we found ourselves in this position, Tatum posted a casual 31/8/11 to secure the NBA title. Last night? 35/8/10. It's what he does, I'm afraid.

What we saw was a player completely manipulating the game on both ends. Even without shooting, he was able to bend the Magic defense and get them to do basically whatever he wanted. There was no wrinkle or adjustment they could throw out at Tatum that he didn't already know the solution for. This version of Tatum, the Champion, has all the answers to the test. The way he was able to dictate everything on both ends, I mean, that was LeBron. I've seen LeBron do this in closeout games a billion times, that's what this was. His gravity, his IQ, his shotmaking, his inability to be guarded by anyone, the calmness in high leverage situations, the execution, good fucking luck.

You could make the case that we witnessed a perfect performance from Tatum in this win. The efficiency was there, he didn't miss a single FT, he was great in terms of ball security, he punished every coverage he saw either by scoring or creating for others, he defended at a high level, it was everything you could possibly want from your franchise player in a closeout game. 

Understand that we are witnessing something that checks off every single box of what it means to be a truly generational player. 

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And the best part? We are only in the early stages of Jayson Tatum's NBA prime years. It's going to get better from here. Holy hell.

- In closeout games, your best players need to step up and close the door. If you want a short series, those guys are responsible for making it happen. Tatum certainly held up his end of the bargain, and Jaylen Brown certainly wasn't far behind

23/6/3 on 9-18 (2-4) with only 2 TOs in his 31 minutes, just like Tatum, I would say Jaylen answered every single bell in this win as well. The patience he showed in this series was especially noticeable to me. Against a physical defense like that, it rarely felt like Jaylen got sped up. That doesn't mean he never made mistakes, but I thought he was fantastic at picking his spots and winning his individual matchups. In this role, that's crucial. 

When the game started to flip in the 3rd quarter, it all really started with Jaylen's early production. Then, once the momentum started to shift, Jayson Tatum blew the game wide open. That's the beauty of having BOTH of these players on this team. There is no let up. You do not get a single possession off when both of them are on the floor, and the way they've found the perfect balance as to when each guy takes over is what you get after years and years together. This is not their first playoff rodeo. They know the balance that's required for this team to be at their best, and Jaylen filled his #2 role perfectly this entire series.

23/7/2 on 49/44% splits for the series? I'll take it. Knowing he's not close to 100%, I couldn't be happier that he now gets multiple days off to rest and recover, because this version of Jaylen Brown is what the Celts are going to need if they want to repeat as champions. 

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In a game that required the best duo in the NBA to play like the best duo in the NBA, the Jays delivered like they so often do. If that doesn't bring a gigantic smile to your face, well then you might actually be a dead person. 

- For anyone out there who is still doubtful of Joe Mazzulla and his ability to coach, please get bent. This was a coaching masterclass from Joe. All you hear about is how he's a talent and 3PM merchant, that he doesn't really know how to coach blah blah blah.

Hey morons, stop being weird and start appreciating greatness.

The Celtics won a game in which they did not make a single 3PM in the first half, while only taking 6 3PA. They had to find a way to win, they had to adjust. Where do we think that came from? His decisions to go small down the stretch worked like a charm, the way he tweaked the offensive approach to survive until the 3s opened up is what every single fan has said they wanted to see. 

Can the Celtics win when they don't take or make 3s??

How many times have you heard that over the last 3 years, despite the Celtics continuing to find ways to win while not making or taking 3s. Again I ask, where do you think that comes from?

- It's hard to really put into words what the end of the 3rd quarter felt like. It was almost as if an entire series of frustrations came out in the final 3+ minutes of the 3rd and then the start of the 4th. Finally, for the first time all series, we finally saw pure Mazzulla Ball

A 35-9 run is what ended this game once Paolo acted like an idiot and picked up his 5th foul. From there, the floodgates opened and this team looked just like the one we'd been watching all season. I'm not sure what a team is supposed to do when the Celts essentially go 5 straight possessions and do this to you

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Finally, the shooters did their thing. It was especially nice to see Hauser start making his 3s again, and when he's that pure on his attempts coming off movement, that's how you know he's back to his old self. The Pritchard makes in the 4th, same thing. You know that had to be such a relief for both guys given how ineffective each has been as shooters in this series, and once those guys start making it rain it's simply too much for an opposing defense to handle, even if that defense is among the best in the NBA.

That run was a nice reminder that just because the Celts went the whole series beating the Magic with 2s and FTs, they are still the Mazzulla Celtics. When they embrace Mazzulla Ball, move the ball, get stops and take care of the basketball, this is what happens.

Speaking of Pritchard, I was so impressed with how he was basically able to morph into a mini-Jrue Holiday defensively. His work on Paolo/Franz in isolation was exactly how it would look with Jrue. He used his wide base/leverage perfectly to absorb contact and provide resistance, his ball pressure was fantastic and helped speed the Magic up and force them to be uncomfortable handling the ball, it was exactly how a guy stays on the floor and makes an impact all without scoring. HUGE part of this series win that I don't think should be overlooked.

- As bad as the first half was, and make no mistake it was beyond dogshit, what we saw in the second half is as close to basketball nirvana as you're going to get

You do shit like this in any playoff game it's impressive. You do it against an elite defense? That takes it up a few levels.

There's a lot to love in that graphic, between the efficiency, the 3P production and volume, the FT shooting, the rebounding, the ball movement, the ball security, it was all great.

For me, the biggest thing is how they took care of the ball and dominated the glass. In that first half, the only reason the Magic were in the game was because the Celts were careless with the basketball and couldn't rebound to save their lives. The two problem areas you had to dominate they were awful in for the first 24 minutes. 

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So it's no surprise that once the Celts took away the self inflicted wounds, this game got out of hand. It's not a complicated formula, but it remains true regardless of you who play. In the playoffs, you win games by rebounding and taking care of the ball. Those are the two most important aspects of any playoff run, and this series was a great example of that. Each time the Cetls struggled in those areas, the Magic stayed attached. When they were great in both? It was blowout city. 

- Glad to see Luke Kornet get back to his old self too. He's another guy off the bench that was largely unplayable for stretches of this series, but last night was back to the good stuff. Solid rebounding in his minutes, didn't have stones for hands, finished plays, protected the rim, talked shit

it felt great to have normal Luke back.

- A closeout game where your best players all play 34 minutes or under. We are blessed.

The Bad

- While it was nice to see the Celts wrap this up in 5, what wasn't so nice was the reality that KP had a pretty awful series all things considered. Just 35/11% splits for the series while shooting 71% from the FT line, he once again really struggled at punishing a switch which remains one of the more baffling things about his series, and just 5 rebounds a game isn't going to cut it moving forward.

The thing that really can't get over is how bad he was when it came to beating the Cory Joseph switch. I legit can't remember a time where he won that matchup, and considering that weapon is the exact reason why he's here, that wasn't great. 

KP averaged just 0.61 PPP on 18.8% shooting in post ups in this series, which ranks in the 7th percentile in post up offense. That, is horrendous. Considering that during the year he was at 1.19 PPP and the 86th percentile in post up offense, I'd say that's a pretty drastic drop off.

The physicality seemed to get him off his spot since he doesn't really have a strong/wide base when establishing position, and once he turned and faced he really struggled finishing those plays through contact. He's not going to get the whistle in the playoffs to the level he did during the year, so those attempts have to translate to makes.

And hey, maybe this was just a matchup thing like we see so often in the playoffs. Should they play a team like the Knicks in the next round, you won't see nearly the amount of switching as ORL just did, so perhaps that'll help. All I know is at some point KP is going to have to play consistent basketball. He got the free ride last year, this time around the production has to start showing up. We have no idea how long he'll be available for, so we can't have 35/11% series. No way.

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- You'll never believe this but the big bad tough Orlando Magic were once again crying like babies after yet another playoff loss

What happened to tough playoff basketball? What happened to physicality? Seems as though the Magic loved to talk the talk, but when it came up to backing it up all they seem to be doing is crying after losses. Paolo's 5th foul was as easy as it gets. He has to be smarter, maybe Mosley should have taken him out to protect him? No no, blame the officials. As if TONY BROTHERS is in the business of doing the Celtics any favors.

I'm just glad we're done with this team. A great young core, but very annoying. 

- Derrick was relatively quiet offensively but that's fine. It stinks his multiple 3PM streak was broken at 19, but that just means it's time to start another one. 

The Ugly

- Whatever the fuck this was

If not for how Tatum closed that second quarter, this could have looked WAY worse. Nothing infuriates me more than lazy passing and lazy effort on the glass, and that's all we got in the first half. Stupid decisions with the basketball from pretty much everyone. From Tatum's poor entry passes, to Pritchard trying to throw fastbreak post ups in transition to Kornet, all while nobody on the roster felt the need to find a body when it came to defensive rebounding.

How many times did we see Tatum in the perfect position to rebound, only for a Magic player to come crashing in and get the OREB instead? I'd say no fewer than a billion times. That's just effort. Find a body, box out, and end the defensive possession cleanly. That was nowhere to be found in the first half, and it was no surprise that's how the Magic were able to survive.

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Of their first 19 points, 16 of them came off OREBs/2nd chance points. I'm not sure what had the Celts in such a funk, maybe it was just one of those nights, but against a team that can actually make a jumper, an effort like that is how you get blown out on your own floor. Period. 

It didn't hurt the Celts in this series because the Magic can't shoot. But what do we think happens if they are that careless/poor on the defensive glass against the Knicks? Or Cavs? Or Pacers? Teams that can really shoot? 

So now we wait. Hopefully NYK/DET goes the distance because my guess is Round 2 wouldn't start until Monday, and I'll take all the rest I can get. Anything that gives Al Horford another All Star Break type of situation in a playoff run is what I am in favor for. Plus, it's also now great that we can all watch the rest of the first round stress free. The Celts did their job, and now it's time to keep this wagon rolling.

4 down, 12 to go. LFG.