Jayson Tatum had a postseason for the ages in the lead-up to the NBA Finals. He had led the Boston Celtics to wins over Kevin Durant’s Brooklyn Nets, then Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks, and lastly, Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat.
He had ascended to superstar status in the eyes of many, but Tatum then proceeded to hit the proverbial wall in the Finals. He really struggled against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, with Andrew Wiggins, in particular, doing a fantastic job of guarding him. Tatum’s lowest point in that series probably came in Game 5, when he shot two airballs late in the game as the Celtics lost 104-94. He still remembers those moments and admitted in an interview that he was exhausted toward the end of the series.
via ESPN:
“I thought [they were] going in,” he says.
Then both shots fell a foot short.
The first air ball he shook off quickly. But the second one in the span of a few minutes was hard to reconcile. Tatum rarely shows what he’s feeling on the court. He’s stoic. But his disbelief at how his body had failed him was obvious as he ran back on defense.
He wasn’t afraid of the moment.
“I was just exhausted,” he says. “Mentally, physically. All the stress and pressure that I was putting on myself.
“I remember those plays vividly.”
It was clear to anyone that was watching those Finals that Tatum had nothing left in his legs at that point. His play became too erratic, he started turning the ball over a lot, and the Celtics as a whole just fell apart along with their star. While his body was failing him, Tatum was putting too much pressure on himself as well, and it is easy to see now why his play went completely south.
Jayson Tatum Admitted That The Warriors Were Mentally Tougher Than The Celtics
Tatum was quite open about his shortcomings in the Finals in this interview, and he admitted later on that the Warriors were mentally tougher than the Celtics. He felt that talent-wise, they stacked up well with Golden State, but the Warriors didn’t panic in the big moments and came out on top.
The Celtics now know what it takes to get over the finish line and deal with the pressure that comes with playing on the biggest stage of the sport. Marcus Smart said something similar after they lost the Finals, as he felt they could now cope better with the stress that comes with playing on that stage. We haven’t seen a team lose in the Finals and make it back there the next year since LeBron James and the Cavaliers did it in 2018, though, so it will be a difficult task for the Celtics.
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