This is Jayson Tatum’s final Infinity Stone.
One of my long-time criticisms of Tatum is that, while great, he has lacked an ability to truly manipulate a basketball game. He has always been capable of triple-doubles, but he had never been the kind of creator that made me think one was always around the corner.
It’s why Tatum has always been in the MVP conversation, but never one of the headliners. It’s why guys like Luka Doncic have been ahead of him, despite Tatum’s ability to defend and rebound on teams consistently better than Dallas.
The example I have always used is that Tatum is the classically trained pianist who started as a child, worked incessantly, and became one of the best. Doncic was the 6-year-old who sat at the keys and quickly started playing music by ear. It’s always come easy to him, which is probably why he just got traded because of a questionable work ethic while Tatum looks like he was created in a lab.
But a funny thing happens to guys in their mid-20s who work tirelessly at their craft. They tend to get better.
A few seasons ago, Tatum was tasked with being Boston’s primary creator. Ime Udoka pushed him into that role and Joe Mazzulla never pulled back on the strategy. Boston’s best chance at winning was for Tatum to draw double teams so the rest of his very talented team could play four-on-three, and then his very talented teammates decimating the four-on-three so the double teams could stop.
It didn’t always go well. Tatum’s instincts as a scorer would sometimes take over, and his tendency to do too much, even in the face of multiple defenders, could show up at inopportune times. Even as the passing improved, it still lacked the smoothness of a true creator. Tatum seemed to be more trying to score and passing when those opportunities dissolved
But now things are different. This season, and especially these last few games, have been different from the Tatum we’ve always known. I don’t know if there’s an added confidence, if that 27th birthday magic is hitting a few weeks early, or if something just clicked for Tatum, but his game has hit another level.
“He obviously has continued to get better,” Mazzulla said. “Where I think he’s grown is … He had two points (in his first stint against Philadelphia), so he’s just not being defined by scoring. And he has an understanding of being patient with the game and knowing how to manipulate the game, and knowing when there’s spots to have the game come to him.”
Mazzulla has used that line … not being defined by scoring … a lot when talking both Tatum and Jaylen Brown when they do other things well. And maybe it’s as simple as that. Maybe it’s the Anthony Edwards mentality softening over time and eventually disappearing. Maybe the championship has helped him understand there’s more to the game than scoring. Whatever it is, not being defined by scoring might be the best way to describe why Tatum has turned this corner.
One key element to his passing is that he’s not slowing down the game to survey the floor nearly as much. He sees openings developing and he exploits them.
On this assist to Luke Kornet, Tatum not only recognized the open middle of the floor, he casually flipped a lefty pass off the dribble allowing Kornet to get to the rim without breaking stride. With Joel Embiid off the floor, the Celtics had a ton of opportunities to get to the rim, and Tatum fed Kornet over and over.
Tatum loves to shoot this shot. He was open and Andre Drummond was way below the 3-point line, but Tatum used that threat to pull Drummond out of Kornet’s way. This is what manipulating the game looks like. It’s setting the defense up to expect one thing and then using that expectation to burn them. He knew Kelly Oubre and Guerschon Yabusele were tight on shooters in the corner, so setting up this pass to Kornet was the exact right play.
