We got our first glimpse of the new-look Celtics on Saturday night, with everyone other than Ron Harper Jr. and Devin Carter active, and the team did not disappoint. The 76ers were resting Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, and LeBron James, but regardless of who was on the floor, the Celtics looked like a wagon on both ends of the court, obliterating Philly, 144-106.
There were plenty of strong takeaways from this one, but one that was hard to ignore was the focus of the offense running through Jayson Tatum, and his teammates empowering their best player. Tatum shined with 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in just 26 minutes, knocking down 9-of-19 shots and 4-of-10 from three-point range.
But it wasn’t so much about the stats or the shots, although Tatum did look very comfortable physically; it was about the way the team made sure the ball found him. Nobody was trying to do too much, nobody was forcing shots, and nobody was trying to do anything out of their comfort zone.
In return, Tatum did a great job keeping the ball moving and sharing the wealth as well, knowing that the ball would make its way back to him. Even with JT sitting out the fourth quarter, he led the team in shots, with no other player attempting more than 12 field goals.
Celtics' solar system orbits around Tatum
The Celtics have been preaching it all offseason, and we saw it on display from the jump: this is Tatum’s team, and things are going to run through him. And the results were glorious. As a team, they shot 52% from the field, 46% from three, attempted 31 free throws, and dished out 31 assists en route to 144 points.
Tatum’s new wingman Paul George summed it up perfectly: “My job is to just make the game as easy as possible for JT… He’s going to be special”. This is the sentiment that we’ve been hearing from Paul ever since he got to Boston, and on Saturday, we finally got to see it in action.
The Celtics looked like a team with a clear identity. Everyone knows their role, and everyone filled it perfectly. Tatum is the sun that everything else orbits around, and at least in game one, that looked like the recipe for a dominant offensive attack.
That was the good news. The even better news? This was just the tip of the iceberg. These players are still settling into these new roles, getting to know each other and building chemistry. They passed the first test with flying colors, and things should only get better from here.
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