BOSTON – Whether it was playmaking skills or sheer candor from Dallas’ head coach, Jason Kidd’s proclamation that Jaylen Brown is Boston’s best player certainly put a sizzling spotlight back on the struggle that has endured throughout Brown and Jayson Tatum’s seven seasons together brewed. It’s been a struggle for these Celtics to resist the temptations of external antagonism, to the point where Jrue Holiday felt the need to clarify his statement on the matter during Saturday’s practice, before Holiday took questions from the media after his team-high 26 points in the match. Celtics’ 105-98 Game 2 victory over the Mavericks Sunday night.
“I don’t prefer one or the other. I prefer both,” Holiday said. “They are both superstars, and the film is being shown here on the biggest stage in the world.”
The fact that neither Tatum nor Brown, especially for the first-team All-NBA selection, is an offensive engine in their own right, a playmaker like Luka Dončić on this finals floor, has left the margins open for both Celtics All-Stars who need to be scrutinized when their absolute best performances are missing in their biggest moments.
Several of Tatum’s powerful drives on Sunday night, before his final test on Twitter, resulted in the ball trickling over the rim long enough to spin away and into the hands of a Mavericks rebounder. His step back this postseason has been spotty, both from three-point land and from midrange. When Tatum cashed in his only triple of Game 2, during a swing-swing-swing sequence late in the third, he shook his head far more with relief than pride. He went just 6-for-22 from the floor and 1-for-7 from deep. “Obviously I need to shoot better,” Tatum said. “Gah-lee…”
However, Tatum acted more as a facilitator than Dončić tonight, as was also the case in Game 1 – when Tatum placed five helpers in Dončić’s single lineup. Tatum had eight assists during intermission on Sunday night before finishing with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 12 dimes. “It wasn’t like I had to do anything spectacular,” Tatum said. “It was just about finding the open man.” Dallas makes sure to weave through the crowd as he explores the paint – often thanks to Dončić’s matador defense that clears a runway for Tatum or Brown to drive. “Every time I take a few dribbles, there’s like three people there,” Tatum said. And that’s where he has responded by shooting at open teammates when too many Mavericks have followed him.
“When you get into a game, it’s kind of like a puzzle, and he’s done a great job of learning how to solve the puzzle and do different things,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Tonight, with the way they ran and the way they defended, the most important thing was to make the right play at the rim.”
It was there at the end of Game 3 against Indiana where Tatum snapped a no-look, back-the-back beauty to Al Horford for a dagger triple after Tatum pulled three defenders to the basket. It was there all Sunday night, as Tatum turned the corner and turned Dallas’ rotations into easy looks for shooters along the edge or Holiday lurking along the baseline.
“Sometimes when I’m driving and I get stuck, I need someone to float with me or be in space and in my line of sight,” Holiday said. “So I think for the most part I’m just trying to stick around for him, give him a good outlet and he’s written some great books.”
Tatum was the first player to text Holiday when Boston traded for its former postseason opponent after Milwaukee flipped the veteran guard to Portland for Damian Lillard. Tatum has also found special synergy with Boston’s other All-Star newcomer, Kristaps Porziņģis, a 7-foot center, where the pair has perfected a pick-and-pop move that stretches most opponents until they break.
The reality is that Boston is built to withstand poor shooting performances from every critical cog in the top six. Tatum wasn’t the only Celtic who struggled with his shot tonight. Boston was just 10 of 39 from beyond the arc. Porziņģis missed all three of his attempts from the center. Sam Hauser missed all five. Brown himself was only 1 of the 4.
But this lineup is so complete and so deep that Tatum has so many players he has to support with all the eyeballs he possesses, dancing with Derrick Jones Jr. possession after possession and then dodging helper after helper. “I attract so much attention, I don’t always manage to get the opportunity,” Tatum said. While if Dallas doesn’t get efficient buckets from both Dončić and Kyrie Irving, the Mavericks may really not have the playmaking ability to escape either of these games unscathed. Tatum instead focuses on prioritizing the ball popping around Boston’s perimeter attack.
“I’m really tired of hearing about one guy or this guy or that guy and everyone trying to claim it’s anything other than Celtics basketball,” Mazzulla said. “Everyone who stepped on that court made winning plays on both ends of the floor. That is the most important thing.”
Holiday’s cutting created several scoring opportunities that otherwise would not have arisen. Porziņģis found another wave of excitement in the first quarter due to his shakiness in the second half. Payton Prichard checked into the third quarter with three seconds left and made a heave that swung the momentum back in favor of the raucous home crowd. Brown said Boston’s backup point guard even checked himself into the game to launch that exact prayer off the backboard and through cotton. Many players won’t throw that Hail Mary to save their precious percentages. “The play of the game that cannot go unnoticed, the humility of our team, is Payton’s chance at the end of the quarter,” Mazzulla added.
“We have a lot of weapons on our team,” Brown said.
The Celtics are now two wins away from completing the endeavor this franchise feels like it squandered two years ago after claiming a 2-1 lead over Golden State in the 2022 NBA Finals. That was the season when then-Celtics head coach Ime Udoka first challenged Tatum to evolve as a passer. Much of his and this team’s overall evolution is a result of that series’ shortcomings. “It has a lot to do with me being here before and not winning,” Tatum said of his willingness to move the ball.
As this matchup shifts back to Dallas, don’t expect anything to change in his approach either, even if his scoring will never be favorable or his step-backs will never stabilize. He is Boston’s leading rebounder in both games, pulling down 11 boards in both games. He switched to Dončić on play after play, with the Celtics cleverly sticking Tatum on Daniel Gafford or Dereck Lively II in preparation for Dallas’ endless pick-and-rolls. He’s hunched in his position. He shook his feet.
“We always talk about doing whatever it takes,” Tatum said, “no matter how long it takes.”
