As was expected, Jayson Tatum has had a tough time shooting the ball efficiently in his first month back from an Achilles injury, with the Boston Celtics star shooting sub-39% from the field through eight games.
Some Hall of Famers and analysts believe Tatum’s return has disrupted the Celtics’ offensive chemistry, possibly affecting MVP candidate Jaylen Brown’s production. However, Brown has defended his longtime teammate and is very confident that the six-time All-Star Tatum will resemble his old self during the upcoming playoffs.
“I got full belief in Jayson Tatum, and I got full belief in our team,” Brown said on his Twitch stream on Tuesday.
“We just got to keep our connectivity,” he continued. “And handle our adversity the right way. Everything ain’t always gonna go your way in life — you’ve gotta remember that. Everything ain’t always gonna go your way.”
Celtics Offense Concerns
After the Celtics suffered a 102-92 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, Tracy McGrady expressed concerns about the Celtics offense taking a hit since Tatum’s return, especially their shooting efficiency.
“I don’t want to say it seems out of whack, but their shooting has gone down since he’s [Tatum] been here,” McGrady told “NBA on NBC” after Sunday’s 102-92 loss.
“It’s really like ‘guys, what are we doing here? Are we running the same stuff that we ran before? Are we still on the same page? Or are we divided because we’re not playing our same game?’ I’m sure that there’s a lot mentally that these guys are going through because of the insertion of JT, and them not playing the same type of basketball that they played individually — not shooting the ball very well.”
McGrady added, “They struggled against Memphis the other night, and they struggled tonight against a team that didn’t have its best player [Anthony Edwards].
“I’m sure there are some questions these guys have to answer.”
Celtics Cling to 2nd Seed
Brown had earlier revealed that he and Tatum had a 1-on-1 meeting shortly after the latter returned from injury.
“It was great,” he said of the meeting, via Boston.com. “The initial conversation, having that communication, sometimes as guys you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. It’s a job. Sometimes your communication falls off, so being able to get back on the same page is important, but it’s going to take more communication as the year goes on.”
“Things change, you’ve got adversity, ups and downs, we just communicated that it’s going to be me and you,” he added. “Our communication sets the tone for the rest of the team, and we’ve both got to be better going forward if we want this thing to work.”
The Celtics (47-24) are locked in a tight battle for the second seed with the New York Knicks (48-25), a team that has won seven straight. The Atlantic Division rivals will face off in a crucial game on April 9 that could determine the final seedings.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Celtics’ Jaylen Brown Sounds off on Jayson Tatum Criticism appeared first on Heavy Sports.