Boston Celtics: 3 bold predictions for C’s upcoming play-in tournament

The 2020-21 regular season is officially over, and the Boston Celtics could not have ended it off any worse.

Coming into May with a legitimate chance to bypass the play-in tournament and, with this, automatically thrust themselves into the postseason picture, the shamrocks completely dropped the ball and posted a putrid record of 2-6 on the month, with their lone wins coming against the bottom-feeding Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves, games virtually any opponent could win.

With an overall record of 36-36, Boston fell out of the top-six seeds, landing in at seventh in the Eastern Conference standings which, in turn, now has them slated for a Tuesday night play-in exhibition against the ninth-seeded Washington Wizards.

With nothing but time to kill between now and its 6:30 PM (EST) tip-off, we here at the Houdini thought it would be fun to brainstorm and think up 3 bold predictions pertaining to the C’s upcoming play-in tournament run.

So, without further adieu, let’s get started:

Boston Celtics prediction No. 1) Jayson Tatum will lead Cs in assists

When Jaylen Brown went down for the season with a left wrist injury that, ultimately, required surgery, many were under the impression that fellow All-Star, Jayson Tatum, would need to up his scoring output considerably in an effort to make up for the 24.7 points-per-game averages now gone alongside their injured wing.

Certainly the team will need to make up for these points somehow but, in our opinion, they should go about it in a way that doesn’t require Tatum shooting eight to ten more shots a night.

Instead, Brad Stevens should strongly consider the idea of regularly rolling out sets where the 23-year-old is the primary ball-handler/ set-up guy.

It’s too easy for a defense to gameplan around stopping Tatum from scoring. However, make him your point forward, and it adds a whole new level to both the team’s play-style and overall potential.

Just look back to the postseason last year in the Lake Buena Vista bubble where the talented forward put up five assists a night, including seven where he dished out more than six and even dropped 11 in their final matchup against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

We’ve seen how productive of a facilitator Jayson Tatum can be, and he’s only managed to improve this portion of his game throughout this current campaign.

To make up for Brown’s scoring production, we believe the other players not with a “J” in the beginning of their name need to get more buckets.

In turn, we predict Tatum will be a major catalyst in accomplishing such a goal, which will have him leading the Boston Celtics in assists.