On opening day, Jayson Tatum put up what would classify, by his standards, as a dud. He scored just 13 points on 6/23 shooting and struggled to make an impact in the second half as the Celtics blew a big lead and fell to the Pistons in Detroit.
A big part of the problem was that Tatum’s jumper wasn’t falling, and he didn’t have another answer. Yes, he dished out 11 assists and had some great passes, but the team needed him to get going scoring the ball, and he couldn’t.
I’m not sure if we can just chalk that up to one bad game or if something actually clicked, but ever since then, Tatum has had all the answers on offense, and even though his shot still hasn’t been falling at a great clip, he has found ways to score. Most notably, he has been incredible at generating free throw attempts and getting to the line for easy points.
In game one, Tatum had just one free throw attempt, which came on an and-one on the Celtics’ first basket. That number is inexcusable for a team that needs rim pressure and free throw attempts badly. Boston was 30th in the league last season in that category and traded away Jaylen Brown, who was sixth in the entire league in free throw attempts with 7.5 a game.
Jayson Tatum now leads the NBA in free throw attempts
Well, whatever happened, Tatum seems to have gotten the message. In the five games since opening day, all Celtics wins, JT has shot 5, 8, 22, 8, and 17 times from the charity stripe, and he’s making over 85%. Even with the quiet game one, he’s now tied with Luka Doncic for the league lead with 61 free throw attempts on the young season, over 10 per game.
It should come as no surprise that over the past five games, Tatum is averaging 31.4 points per game and the Celtics haven’t been beaten. This is exactly what the team needs from him. Surely, his three-point stroke will get going, and he won’t have to rely on driving hard to the basket quite as often, but the fact that he’s able to produce like this when the shot isn’t going down is an incredible sign.
High volume free throw shooting makes Tatum unstoppable
And it’s not just the downhill drives either; Tatum is simply being smart and taking advantage of what the defense is giving him. Twice on Sunday, he got ahead of his man, and with the defender chasing him, Tatum felt it and pulled up for a quick three, forcing the opponent to run into him from behind and drawing two three-shot fouls. That may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but six foul shots in a tight game against a good defense is massive.
It’s also boosting him into another tier of player, right in line with the other MVP favorites around the league. Considering what he’s doing as a playmaker and defender as well, if Tatum can keep up this level of foul-drawing, or even something close, that’s going to go a long way toward keeping his name in that discussion all season long.
He already does so many other things at a tremendous level, and one of the only concerns after his injury was whether he’d be able to get to the basket and the line. He has resoundingly answered that question, showing that, if anything, he has taken things up a notch and delivered for the Celtics everything they’ve needed and more.
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