So I'm going to get ahead of a handful of idiots to start off this piece, and calmly tell you why you're insane for firing off some of these takes I've seen on a certain bird app in the last 12ish hours.
-Jayson Tatum is not "not the guy" cause he didn't show up last night. The man is 24 years old and a top-10 to 12 player in the National Basketball Association. He's 6'10" with guard handles, an elite jumpshot from both two and three-point range, and is one of the most underrated "switchable" defenders in the entire league. He also has the benefit of not needing to be the best player on the floor every single night, because of a certain 6'7" running mate. He's gone on record as saying that he's not exactly a verbal leader and that he needs to grow into that role, and he's always acknowledged that. He also is far harder on himself than he is his teammates, to a fault at many points. That accountability speaks volumes, and despite the results not translating, Boston fans especially should be careful how they react to him, especially in this age of transient superstars. And speaking of #0...
-It is not illegal for a current NBA player to be a huge fan of a retired NBA players. So this whole discourse is really fucking weird to me, I'm just going to say it. There's a whole subsection of the aforementioned bird app that seems to be entirely dedicated to hating on Jayson Tatum's love of Kobe Bryant. When Kobe died in 2020, the entire basketball landscape and cultural world surrounding it was deeply affected. Tatum has long been vocal in his admiration of Kobe, and many Celtic fans remember his early, horrendously inefficient days where he worked with Kobe in the offseason, to the lament of fans around New England. But now, people are seeing his whole "texting Kobe's number still" and his Instagram profile picture as "weird" and "mimicking" and that "he should have the Mamba Mentality and keep hooping". That last one is especially weird to me, largely because I love the idea of "average Twitter user" thinking that they live their lives in a way that one of the most legendary hard workers would approve of, and that an NBA superstar needs to be more like them. There are so many photos of Kobe all decked out in that Bulls gear and Jordan jersey, because he was chasing that idol. No one ever batted an eye because "it was Kobe" but when Tatum gets his first real national spotlight and chance at a title and doesn't come through, he should be crucified and lose all association with him. It's just weird man, let the dude have an idol and choose to love that idol the way he wants to.
Now I want to talk about the game a little bit, as well as where I think the Celtics are as a franchise at this point, but I'm not going to spend forever on either of those.
Last night's performance was as horrific as everyone was saying, and despite the late rally to bring it to within eight, there was certainly a perceived drop off in effort by the end. They knew they were outmatched, and they were. It was really the first time since the turnaround that I've seen them this visibly dejected. And the play reflected it, with 22 team turnovers and multiple instances where an offensive play got blown up and the resulting hustle was just not at the level it needed to be at. We know Tatum played poorly, and there's truly no need to harp on him, especially when Jaylen Brown supplied 34 to lead the way for Boston. As the "1B" to Brown's "1A", if that's how we're choosing to look at the situation, sure, it's his responsibility to carry more of the load on offense, but just as in any game at any point in the season, sometimes you get eighteen looks at the basket and only six go in. It happens. It's obviously challenging to "be okay" with things like perceived lack of effort, but at the end of the day it's not our position as fans and critics to try to understand what's going on between the ears of a 24-year-old on the biggest stage of his life.
Beyond the Celtics playing horribly, the Warriors also played very well. They packed the paint and forced Boston to take contested two's and three's all night, and continued to take advantage of defenders going under screens. It's also easy to point to the fact that, taking officiating opinions out of the equation, getting Tatum and Smart in early foul trouble allowed them to target the bench players, none of whom had experience in the Finals, much less so dealing with the three-headed-monster that's been there a time or two (or three or four) before. Oh wait, one thing that annoyed me was Tatum getting some of those early take fouls as Golden State was beginning their fast break offense. The logic behind it checks out, sure, but not for HIM specifically. Last night it "may not have mattered" but you don't want to put Jayson Tatum in a position where he isn't going to be on the floor. And beyond the expected performances from now Finals MVP Steph Curry and his splash sibling, Draymond Green quieted a lot of haters last night, with a classic Draymond performance of 12/12/8/2/2, and Jordan Poole continued his ascension alongside the Andrew Wiggins revenge tour (that video of them saying "nah, WE'RE going to get a bag" is fucking awesome).
Reasonable Celtics fans (a rare bunch) are looking at last night's game and the series as a whole and understanding that the C's were outmatched by this team, from top to bottom, largely. They reloaded their squad in a way that still favors the way that Steph/Klay/Dray pioneered with Steve Kerr over half a decade ago with guys like Otto Porter, Poole, Gary Payton II, and Wiggins. It's also important to note and address a perpetual complaint that fans of the Celtics really like to lean into. "The Celtics need a true point guard who can run the offense". I just want to ask these fans: who are you thinking of? Most true floor generals in the NBA, whether you want to call that Chris Paul or Trae Young or oversized ballhandlers and true generals like LeBron, Luka, and Jokic, are happy in their role and under large-scale contracts. Between Tatum, Smart, Horford, and Pritchard, a lack of a "Rondo-type" point guard should not be the cause for as much panic as some fans seem to think it is. The Celtics took a team that was at one point the eleventh seed in the Eastern Conference, made a couple of good trades halfway through, had a historic turnaround and ended up two wins away from an NBA championship. It didn't end the way many fans like myself wanted, but I'm still pretty damn proud of that regardless.
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