Some stats make no sense, and yet they make perfect sense. And that’s how it is with Jayson Tatum leading the NBA in made field goals that forced the opposing coach to take a timeout since 2021. In that time, Tatum’s shots have forced 47 immediate timeouts, which leads the league.
The numbers weed out things like mandatory timeouts and crunch time, when teams are often calling timeouts to set up plays. So, this stat is basically showing what teams and players go on big runs and hit shots that make the other team feel that they need to intervene and put a stop to the momentum.
Celtics are constantly going on momentous runs during games
This is a Tatum stat, but when you look at who’s number two on the list, Jaylen Brown, you realize it’s just as much a Celtics stat. The Celtics have the ability to go on some huge runs and make teams feel like they’re trying to stop an avalanche, and oftentimes those runs have involved Tatum and Brown cooking, with one finally hitting a shot that makes the other coach decide that enough is enough.
It speaks to a few things: the durability of Tatum and Brown and the lasting success of the Celtics. Boston has constantly been winning at a high level and mixing in a lot of blowouts and big runs with Tatum and Brown front and center for much of that time. They’ve been taking teams behind the woodshed for years, and when JT or JB has it going, there’s nothing coaches can do other than call a timeout.
It’s great for the team and shows that teams have struggled to find answers when playing against them. Forcing teams to use timeouts is important and creates issues for them later in games.
Celtics finding new ways to force timeouts
Behind Tatum and Brown, this list features a lot of the usual suspects, with Stephen Curry, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, Desmond Bane, LeBron James, Donovan Mitchell, and Luka Doncic making up the rest of the top 10, in that order.
That checks out and shows that this stat is indicative of which players are consistently making shots that compromise the defense and make the opponents feel threatened. The fact that it’s a Celtic and a former Celtic leading the way speaks to their dominance this decade.
Obviously, Brown is no longer in Boston, but Tatum remains. The only question now is which players will step up and join JT by hitting those shots that force coaches to stop the game. Payton Pritchard and Paul George seem like the most likely candidates, but as long as Tatum is on the floor and the Celtics are rolling, we know they are coming, one way or another.
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