3 takeaways from Boston Celtics 102-93 victory over Pistons

Takeaway No. 1) Jayson Tatum’s special third quarter

All year Jayson Tatum has been a slow starter and smooth finisher.  There was no difference on a cold Friday night at Caesars Palace in Detroit.

The All-Star limped into halftime with just five measly points. Granted, he was doing a solid job defensively and playing within the team concept. At the end of the day, we need Tatum’s scoring and it came in honey bunches of oats in the third.

The 6-9 forward had 19 of his 24 points in the second half and essentially carried the load to open the final two periods for the Boston Celtics.

We could write a whole book on big second-half performances for Tatum.

Some players are just slow starters, but they come through in the clutch. Paul Pierce and Isaiah Thomas are great examples of such stars.

The 24-year-old added nine boards to go with a stunning +/- of +14 for the game.

Tatum surrendered more of the ball-handling/playmaking duties to his point guard, Marcus Smart, and Dennis Schroder at times as he should.

Gone were any careless turnovers or stagnation in the offense caused by overdribbling in isolation situations. For the most part, Jayson’s shot selection was decisive and he picked apart any mismatches in the second half, which was a flip of the script from the first half.

A positive sign going forward of deferring to the point guard for these duties.