Is Jayson Tatum more Robin than he is Batman?
Game 5 of the NBA Finals has come and gone and the Golden State Warriors took a 3–2 lead after beating the Boston Celtics, 104–94. It was a game that Boston should’ve won. Steph Curry just was not himself all game long. He had 16 points and went 7 for 22 from the field. And not one of those field goals was from a 3-pointer.
Yet, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics let that game slip away. Tatum finished with 27 points, but when the game mattered, he disappeared.
Tatum just broke the record for most turnovers in the playoffs with 95. LeBron James was the former owner of that record with 94 in his 2018 playoff run.
Turnovers have been a glaring problem when all the eyes have been on Jayson Tatum during the Finals. So many of those turnovers are just boneheaded plays. Tatum gets too cute with passing to whomever and pretends he’s on the Harlem Globetrotters.
Whether he wanted to be or not, Jayson Tatum is the leader of this Boston Celtics squad. He has the most natural talent. Boston has built around him. But he’s just not living up to that so far. He’s still young enough and there’s still time to turn this series around, but it never seems that Boston has won with Tatum having himself a crazy game the way Steph Curry has been.
There seems to just be too many distractions for Tatum. He continuously brings his son, Deuce, to the games. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I feel like these players shouldn’t be bringing their kids on the court in important games like Tatum has done.
The other thing that is a little strange with Jayson Tatum is his thing with the late Kobe Bryant. The internet was in an uproar when Tatum decided to post the text he sent to Kobe’s phone before Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
It wasn’t so much that he texted Kobe’s old phone, but that he decided to share it with the world. It just seemed like a cry for unnecessary attention.
But it didn’t end there — Tatum also dressed exactly like Kobe did when Kobe did a workout for the Celtics before he was drafted. It’s just a little weird.
He wants to be like his idol. I get that. My idol growing up was Allen Iverson and I practiced the finger roll like it was nobody’s business. It’s just that Tatum isn’t coming off with that “Mamba Mentality” like he claims he has — he does the exact opposite of Kobe when it comes to the 4th quarter.
Kobe would attack with a killer instinct like no one other than Michael Jordan had. He never got timid the way Tatum has been getting.
It just seems like he needs a Batman and he can take the back seat and be a Robin. Not everyone can be Batman. And that’s okay. The Celtics feel like the better all-around team, yet they are on the brink of losing the series. Mostly due to Tatum’s 4th quarter performances.
The Warriors are a dangerous team, no doubt. They have all the experience — and then some. But Draymond Green and Klay Thompson are not the same players they used to be. The Celtics neutralized Steph Curry, yet they couldn’t capitalize with a win.
Am I being too hard on a 24-year-old player in his 5th professional season? Probably. Will I look like a complete buffoon if the Celtics come back and win this series? Absolutely.
A side note: the officiating has been horrific in the NBA Finals. These games have had great back-and-forth action, but the refs always want to make it about themselves and kill any type of exciting play or momentum. This can be said for both teams at different times. And it’s seriously getting old coming from a viewer.
Game 6 will be played in Boston on Thursday, June 16th at 9:00PM ET on ABC.
