Jayson Tatum admits mistake on final play, takes ‘full ownership’ of struggles
A miscue by the Celtics best player doomed Boston in the closing seconds of its Challenge loss One day after the New York Knicks stunned their Atlantic Division rivals - to take a - lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals Jayson Tatum shouldered the blame for the Celtics ugly final possession With Boston down one he dribbled diagonally into traffic and was unable to get a shot off while being swarmed by Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby I just kind of made the wrong read Tatum stated Thursday Went into a crowded area Obviously if I had that opportunity again or the next time it presented itself just have a different outcome But I take responsibility for us not at least getting a shot up at the end of the championship It was a discouraging end to another underwhelming performance by Boston s centerpiece superstar who struggled in Games and against New York after dominating the Orlando Magic in the opening round of the NBA playoffs Tatum went -for- from the field and -for- from -point range over the two losses both of which featured blown -point second-half leads by the defending champion Celtics I take full ownership of the way that I ve played in this series Tatum commented And I can t sugarcoat anything I need to be better I expect to be a lot better He isn t the only Celtics shooter who s scuffling Boston s field-goal percentages in Games and and respectively were its two worst of the season The Celtics went -for- on -point attempts and were especially erratic during New York s late-game comebacks They were -for- -for- from three in the fourth quarter of Encounter and -for- -for- in the fourth in Challenge And that s despite the vast majority of their long-range attempts coming on clean looks Seventy-five of their -pointers in the series were classified as open or wide-open by NBA athlete tracking meaning there was not a defender within four feet of the shoot We have a way that we play Tatum disclosed We have an identity and it can t waver just because we missing shots We can t change who we are And I perpetually say you ve got to be the same person when things are going well and when things aren t going well And it s not about our season being two games from over Like that hasn t crossed any of our minds We got a match on Saturday at that should be a lot of fun If you re a competitor you should really look forward to that moment We put ourselves in this position and we got a event on Saturday that we re all looking forward to Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla expects a bounce-back performance from his top scorer as the series shifts to Madison Square Garden for a must-win Championship I appreciate the fact that he would take responsibility but I think it s on everybody Mazzulla commented We all could be better I could be better in the things that I can help our organization execute on Our entire gang can be better and yeah he can too It just says who he is taking responsibility for that and I expect him to be better There s no doubt in my mind
