By most metrics, Jayson Tatum is having the best season of his career, but oddly enough, he’s doing so despite struggling to shoot the ball. He’s shooting just 41.3% from the field and 30.6% from three-point range, good for a measly 56.4% true shooting and a 47.4 effective field goal percentage.
Those numbers would be close to career lows and are significantly lower than his career averages, but things like his PER, VORP, and BPM are all higher than they’ve ever been. A lot of that is thanks to everything else he’s doing. His playmaking has taken a giant leap while his turnovers stay low; his rebounding is very good, and his defense has been excellent as well.
But one other massive thing that’s boosting his season is that, even with the bad shooting, he has been money down the stretch when it matters most. The NBA considers “clutch time” to be any time in the final 5 minutes (or overtime) of a game when the score is within 5 points.
So far, in clutch time, Tatum has 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting, 4 assists, and 0 turnovers. He had two ridiculously clutch shots to beat the Knicks in the second game of the season; he hit the game-winning buzzer-beater to top the Nets in overtime, and he made every big play down the stretch to finish off the Raptors on Wednesday night.
Tatum has been a one-man wrecking crew for Celtics in crunch time
Simply put, when the games have been on the line, Tatum has been at his best, and despite an overall lack of efficiency, he has been nails late in the fourth quarter when the Celtics need him most. He’s an early-season favorite to win the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year Award, and frankly, the only thing that may hold him back is that Boston rarely plays clutch games because they’re constantly blowing teams out.
It’s probably unrealistic to think that Tatum can keep up this level of efficiency in clutch time all season, but then again, he has been one of the most clutch players since entering the league. Whether the numbers drop a little or not, it’s clear that he’s up to the challenge and raises his play when the chips are down.
Tatum’s regular efficiency numbers will surely start to come up as the season goes on and water finds its level, but for anyone doubting that, his clutch numbers are probably as reassuring as anything. The shooting is obviously still in there, and he’s able to dig deep when he needs to, which is ultimately what has mattered so far. When the rest of his game catches up to his clutch play, he’ll be an even more unstoppable force than he already is.
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