Boston Celtics: Jayson Tatum needs to stay assertive

The Boston Celtics need Jayson Tatum to be assertive to be at their best on offense

The Boston Celtics got back on track in Marcus Smart‘s game five return, but it was far from smooth. While their defense finally had a top performance from their defense, but a struggling offense allowed the Milwaukee Bucks to keep it close.

Jaylen Brown has emerged as the top scoring option for the Celtics, but their scoring will always have to be a collective effort. They will not lean too much on any one player, and know they need to have options when Brown is not shooting well.

Everyone can see that Jayson Tatum has the talent to be a number one guy, and has looked like a number one option at times in these playoffs. The problem is he has only looked that way at times. Tatum has been quite inconsistent in his scoring output, and it has more to do with the volume of his shots, rather than the efficiency.

Tatum is not the kind of player that always looks to shoot through his slumps, and the games he has fallen behind on the scoring front are games he becomes too tentative after struggles. He never wants to make a negative play, and always makes sure he has a positive impact, even if it means dropping the volume.

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In his two games scoring under double digits, Tatum took just nine and seven shots, hitting just two in each. In his stronger games, he never shot more than 45.5 percent, but did not let than stop him from taking 18, 11 and 16 shots. Tatum is too good to disappear at any point, and the Celtics want him to shoot through his slumps, and try to manufacture points even when the shot is not falling.

Tatum is yet to break out the way Brown has these playoffs, and part of it is that Brown refuses to step aside at any point. His aggression never lets up and he has no problem shooting despite struggles. With Tatum, part of the issue could be that his approach is not going to be forcing things in any way. If that is the case, the team needs to find ways to integrate him more.

If the Celtics realize that Tatum is not going to force the issue himself, they need to make sure the ball continues to get in his hands, and he will find himself in a position to have an impact more often. The Celtics want him to keep shooting, but he is not going to be taking bad shots. Tatum will not want to create it on his own too much, because he looks for higher percentage shots.

The solution then has to be the overall unit needs to do more to get him he nicer looks. We are seeing Tatum grow a tremendous amount with his shot creating ability, but he is still not ready to be a top scorer unless the overall offense is helping him create the space that is he so good at taking advantage of.

The Celtics know that they do not have that player that is ready to come out and be a real threat to score 30 on a nightly basis. That being said, Tatum certainly has the talent to score at that rate. Right now, the problem is not finishing, it is volume. Brown has separated himself as the top volume guy right now, but the team cannot let Tatum be the one sacrificing shots.

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The Celtics need Tatum to be active on offense no matter what is happening around him, and that will only happen as long as he does not have to do it all by himself.

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