Everything Jayson Tatum Said After Boston Celtics Game 2 Loss to Philadelphia 76ers

Jayson Tatum struggled with his shooting in Boston’s 111-97 Game 2 loss to Philadelphia. He finished the game with 19 points on 8-19 shooting overall, 2-8 from three, and 1-2 from the line. He did grab 14 rebounds and dish nine assists, though, so he found other ways to contribute despite shooting poorly and not getting to the free throw line.

Here’s everything he said after Game 2, with added analysis from me.

On the offense stalling: “I think the second quarter we gave up 37 points. Doing that in a playoff game is tough. It's not a recipe for a win and you got to give them credit. They played better, obviously, and that was to be expected. Some live ball turnovers, some offensive rebounds that we gave up and then obviously, when you're not hitting shots, it just puts more pressure on your defense. That's kind of what happened tonight.”

Analysis: Everything is intertwined. The Celtics gave up 37 second-quarter points, which allowed the Sixers to go back and set their defense, which made it tougher for Boston to score. The Celtics tried to force a few things, which led to turnovers and more Sixers scoring, which led to runs. That led to Boston pressing and devolving back into some iso/hero-ball, which leads to offensive stagnation and misses across the board, which puts pressure on the defense to get stops, often leading to overreactions and missed assignments that allowed for putbacks.

That's why it’s hard to pinpoint one thing and say “this is why they lost.” If they're not careful, a loss of focus in one area begets another, and another, and another.

On whether this was a mental letdown: “No, I don't think so. That's a good team over there, The NBA is hard. There's a bunch of guys over there that are prideful and obviously wanted to come out and play better. That was to be expected and you got to give them credit, they did.”

Analysis: This feels like Tatum being diplomatic and not giving the Sixers bulletin board material.

Yes, the Sixers have good players, and those good players did great things. At the same time, the Celtics got away from the details of what worked and that's a loss of focus and a mental letdown. It might be semantics, but I don’t think the Celtics felt they needed to be at their absolute best to win this game.

On what went wrong: “I mean, yes, there’s periods throughout the game, second quarter is where it kind of all started. Some lapses that we had on the defensive end, some coverages that communication things that we could be better at, offensive rebounds. I feel like they — only had one more shot, but, it's just some things we got to clean up. I think just throughout my career and obviously just throughout the playoffs is just about emotional stability. Don't get too high after a win or too low after a loss. They all count as one and you just got to stay level headed.”

Analysis: They definitely lost themselves in the second quarter. That gave the Sixers a ton of confidence, and once a team starts playing with a little swagger, it can be tough to put that toothpaste back in the tube.

We saw in Game 1 that the Sixers are prone to losses of confidence in their jumpers. The Celtics defense has to be better about getting that communication back and understanding what they're trying to do defensively. Don’t give Philly any waves of confidence to ride.

On defending Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe better in the next game: “Stick to the game plan. Just try to make things tough for them. Like I said, it wasn't like we played bad defense. It's just, when you're not making shots at the rate we normally do, it just puts more pressure on your defense. We’ll be better next game.”

Analysis: Disagree on the bad defense comment. They didn't play bad defense the whole game, but they made some bad defensive mistakes.

But yes, poor offensive execution can easily be the first domino to fall that leads to defensive issues.

On what changed with Tyrese Maxey in Game 2: “I mean, Great players in this league you just try to make it tough on him. He's 11 for 28, so you're gonna make some shots, you're gonna miss some, you just try to make it as tough as possible, try to make them work for it. That goes for all the guys on the team.”

Analysis: Maxey hit timely shots, but 29 points on 28 shots is something you can actually live with. Edgecombe’s 12-20 and 6-10 from three is much worse. Kelly Oubre Jr.’s 5-10 shooting is much worse. Even Andre Drummond shooting 4-4 with two putbacks is much worse because those possessions involved Sixers misses.

Take Drummond’s two putbacks away and four points come off Philly’s score. Let’s say Boston clears those rebounds and gets a couple of fastbreak layups, then add four to Boston’s and it’s 107-101. So just those two plays alone make this a much closer game.

Now defend just one three-pointer better and run better offense to hit one more of your own and it’s 104-104.

That's just THREE plays the Celtics very easily could have made to change the entire complexion of the game.

On how he feels as he continues to rehab: “I'm feeling good. Sounds cliche, but man, I’m back in the playoffs. And for me, it's a win every day that I get to — I've come back from what happened last May, and been able to play at this level for the last month, and obviously going to continue to get better. But I get to walk off the court on my own two feet, and as long as I do that every game, I win a little bit.”

Analysis: Not much more to say here. He has physically looked amazing. I’ll forever be shocked at how quickly he recovered. He will change the trajectory of how Achilles injuries are handled.

On whether he processes a playoff loss differently post-injury: “I mean a little bit, yeah, especially since it's just so fresh. And that's not to say, obviously, I’m frustrated after the loss, wish I would have played better, wish we would have played better. But even before getting injured, I think just being through it so many times is — playoffs is a roller coaster. And I think what I've learned throughout my nine years in the playoffs is just stay even-keeled throughout right? And I think the team that sticks together and does that from an emotional standpoint will be fine.”

Analysis: Having the basketball version of a near-death experience will certainly change one’s perspective on the game. That, plus his experience in moments like this, make this a moment of more annoyance than concern for the Celtics.

On whether he has to guide younger players to stay even-keeled: “No, it's something that we stress and we talk about, especially for some of the guys that haven't been through this as much. There's a new experience, and that's why you kind of lean on the guys that have been through this over and over again.”

Analysis: I think it’s on Tatum and Jaylen Brown to lead by example here. They need to understand this isn’t the same team they've had the past couple of seasons, and that they have to perform a certain way to allow their supporting teammates to be at their best.

And that, by the way, means staying even-keeled during games and not resorting to hero-ball even if things feel like they're a little out of control. Boston’s strength is in their ball movement and attacking, not settling for pull-up threes.

On Derrick White and Payton Pritchard missing a lot of shots: “I mean, it was a lot of open looks and looks that they normally make. We got, I don't know how many they made this year, but I remember last year, both those guys made 250-plus threes. So they're great shooters. You know, sometimes the ball just don't go in, but they never lose confidence in them. They'll be ready. We'll all be ready Friday.”

Analysis: As long as the process of creating the shots is good, then I’ll never be upset that shots don’t fall. I’d almost rather see a team miss good looks that make bad ones. I don’t want bad habits being reinforced.

On not paying attention to all the praise leading up to Game 2: “I mean, yeah. I’ve been doing this for nine years. So, you know, obviously, we all respect the role that the media plays in this ecosystem, that it’s the NBA and that we obviously need each other. But we all got a job to do, and our job is to focus on the things that we can control and going out there and playing. And good or bad, we can't necessarily listen to outside noise. And I've been dealing or doing that for the last nine years.”

Analysis: The Celtics are big on the phrase “praise can be as dangerous as criticism.” Listening to people tell you how great you are can feed complacency or an over-inflated sense of accomplishment.

It’s easy to tie some of that into what the Celtics looked like in Game 2, especially since the praise was at a fever pitch after Game 1 and the Celtics stormed out to a huge lead in Game 2. We can say they rested on their laurels a little bit because it feels like a natural thing to happen and explain the sudden turnaround.

The game can be pretty humbling, pretty quickly, though. If Game 2 was a reminder of that, then they should be fine moving forward.

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