Jayson Tatum has gotten plenty of praise from the NBA world for his outstanding play in these playoffs. The Boston Celtics superstar has led the way as the team has reached the NBA Finals, but Tatum has endured his fair share of struggles on the biggest stage in the sport.
While he is averaging 23.2 points per game in the Finals, his efficiency has plummeted as he is shooting just 37.3% from the field and his free throw shooting has dipped to 65.6% as well. Tatum also added an unwanted record to his resume during Game 5, as he surpassed LeBron James for the most turnovers in a single postseason.
Jayson Tatum now has 95 turnovers this postseason, passing 2018 LeBron James for most in a single postseason. @ESPNStatsInfo
— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) June 14, 2022
While taking over any record from LeBron is usually quite an impressive feat, this is not one of those that you want. NBA fans called out Tatum after he set this unwanted record and here’s a look at what Redditors had to say about it:
“he texted LeBron “I got you today” before this game”
“Turns out this dude really can’t pass. That’s turrible”
“There’s a 50/50 chance of Tatum and Brown fumbling the ball the second they step into the lane. It’s incredible”
“And he keeps swinging his arms out to try and draw contact and gets stripped consistently, but he KEEPS TRYING IT”
“Remember people in here trying to tell me Tatum was a better playmaker than Trae lol”
“Celtics fans talk about Tatum like he has Luka’s playmaking, KD’s scoring, and Kawhi’s defense. The playmaking part is easily the most hilarious though”
“Tatum just doesn’t have the IQ, Smart tries random fancy passes, and Jaylen Brown’s weird “I forgot how to dribble” moments are dooming them.”
“Probably not the stat the Celtics hoped Tatum would pass Lebron in”
“Don’t worry, he’s just paying homage to Westbrook.”
“Get this team a true point guard. The turnovers are embarrassing”
“Its a choke job at this point. No more excuse.”
“Hot take, tatum is actually good, like star player good but not a superstar like boston fans like to think”
“The Brett Favre of the NBA.”
“Tatum will wear a purple #6 wristband next game.”
“Still 1/2 more games to play”
“Boy thought he kobe, he’s merely a worse lebron”
“First the turnover record, next a finals loss. Seems like he’s more interested in following LeBrons footsteps than Kobe’s”
“Thinks he’s Kobe but a whole lot more harden in his game”
“Don’t forget to text Kobe and let him know you’re breaking records, fam.”
“The fact that there’s a pretty good chance he cracks triple digits is hilarious.”
To be fair to Tatum, he leads this postseason in points as well as assists so it’s not like he has been terrible with the ball in his hands. Breaking a record like this is a very bad look though, and LeBron had set this record in the 2018 playoffs when he had no help around him and was doing everything for the Cavaliers.
While Tatum has been the main man for the Celtics, his workload and numbers are nowhere near what LeBron had in 2018, which makes it much worse. The Celtics need Tatum to rediscover his best form from earlier in these playoffs, or else they are headed towards a painful loss in these Finals.
