Everything Jayson Tatum Said After Boston's 4th Quarter Collapse in Game 5 vs. Sixers

BOSTON — Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics struggled in the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers, getting out-scored by 23 and losing Game 5 by 16 at home. Tatum finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds, but he had zero points in the fourth quarter and the Sixers were running away with their win.

Here’s everything Tatum said, with added analysis from me

On the Celtics offense down the stretch: “First of all, give them credit. They played well. And yeah, a few looks that we felt good about that we just didn’t make. But sometimes that happens. You know, it’s just tough. Not scoring the way you want to puts a lot of pressure on your defense, and they made some plays at the other end.”

Analysis: This is all true, but this was more than shots not falling. I could live with a “they were hot, Boston was not” where both teams played well and Boston just lost.

The Celtics have to understand that their best offense comes from quick decisions, ball-movement, and attacking a team like Philadelphia. Yes, there is a natural tendency to let offensive frustration trickle into the defense, but the offensive frustration can be fixed by moving, cutting, and putting up some easy buckets.

On breaking the cycle of missed shots affecting the defense: “Getting a stop, first of all. That’ll help not playing against a set defense, getting out in transition, finding advantages. But there was a stretch where we weren’t making shots and they were coming down and hitting shots and getting fouled and we just kept having to play against a set defense. So getting stops would have helped for sure.”

Analysis: Again, factual statements by Tatum, but the Sixers’ “set defense” isn’t exactly a buzzsaw. The fact is that Boston can go up against Philly’s set defense every possession of the game, and if they play to their normal capability, they should still put up 115 points.

The Sixers defense is not good. Having to face their set defense shouldn’t be an issue.

On body language getting worse as the team grew more frustrated: “Just lean on each other. That's what you’ve got teammates for. Each guy has to be out there to pick each other up and just kind of move on to the next play. When we're at our best, we do that really well.”

Analysis: Payton Pritchard, Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman, and Luka Garza tried. They each had a moment or two (more than that for Pritchard) where their hustle helped boost the crowd. TD Garden wanted to explode and send Philly home alone. The Celtics couldn't do it.

On not picking each other up on nights like this: “I mean, there's a human element part of it. We're not perfect. After each game, a win and/or a loss, there’s just a lot of things that we look back on and talk about that we can be better at. And tonight's no different.”

Analysis: I’m not going to deny this. At the same time, humans can understand situations, process them, and succeed. They do it often.

These guys got too focused on the wrong things like foul calls and leaning on individual greatness to save the team.

Sometimes a win and a loss can come down to which team is the least human.

On “messing with the game” comments by Payton Pritchard: “Yeah, I agree with that. That was a critical part of the game and some plays that we just wish we could have back in that third quarter when we had the lead.”

Analysis: This is where the focus has to be better. This is twice that the Celtics have admitted to not having the right mindset to win games at home. They should still win this series, but how about giving the home crowd your best stuff?

The bigger issue in this game is that they let the Sixers off the hook. They got away from what worked, they let the Sixers get confident, and once again the Celtics reacted poorly to that scenario. They now have to play a Game 6 in Philadelphia, and every unnecessary 48 minutes of basketball presents a risk of something bad happening.

On Joel Embiid controlling the tempo of the game: “Yeah. Give him credit, he played well. He put a lot of pressure on us, especially on the defensive end. We'll go back and watch the film and make some adjustments and be ready for Game 6.”

Analysis: Tatum hit all the right notes on the postgame script in this one. This session was right out of the PR playbook. I wish Tatum was as focused on making all the right plays on the floor as he was on hitting all the platitudes from their media training sessions.

Yeah, give Embiid credit. Also, there's no way a guy three weeks removed from an appendectomy, and who isn’t in great shape to begin with, should be this dominant in 39 minutes of playoff basketball.

Run him! Get him tired! Make him defend multiple defensive actions!

The Celtics played slow and scared of Embiid the whole night. It was confusing.

Add us as a preferred source on Google