Triumph of the Celtics led by Jayson Tatum against the Bulls: 6 takeaways

Celtics

Tatum dominated Saturday’s game in Chicago from start to finish.

Jayson Tatum performed in Chicago. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Jayson Tatum turned in his most dominant performance of the season so far as the Celtics cruised to a 123-98 victory in a bounce-back performance against the Bulls.

Here are the points to remember.

Jayson Tatum reminded everyone why the Celtics are built around him.

Tatum’s MVP case has taken a very slight dent in recent weeks as his scoring stats have slipped a bit (he no longer averages 30 points per game).

However, Saturday’s game — which also marks a new season high in scoring and Tatum’s first triple-double of the year with an obscene total of 43 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists — served as a reminder that There probably isn’t a single player in the NBA. that the Celtics would rather have, and that if you wanted to make an MVP case for Tatum, the road isn’t as winding as some might think.

After all, Tatum is doing unprecedented things: No Celtics player had ever recorded a 40-15-10 triple-double before Saturday, and only one other NBA player in NBA history had recorded that total with nine 3-pointers (that player was James Harden, who once posted a record of 53-16-17 with nine triples).

Tatum told Abby Chin of NBC Sports Boston that Joe Mazzulla challenges him sometimes.

“He’s really coachable, and he wants to play the right way, and he wants to do the right thing, and he’s constantly struggling with that balance between wanting to do what we ask of him, but sometimes you have to tell him to be himself- even,” Mazzulla said. “He does a really good job of balancing that, but there are nights where I can kind of tell he’s in a different rhythm and you’re just working to give it to him.

“I thought it was one of those nights and he took advantage of it. So you just choose your locations.

Tatum is completely unique as an offensive talent at the moment – no one else can shoot, drive, post-up, rebound attack, lead offense and pass like he can. Few can defend as many positions as Tatum, and no one else can combine Tatum’s level of offensive versatility with this defense.

The Celtics have given us no reason to believe they aren’t the best team in the NBA. The best player on this team – and the fulcrum of everything they do – is Jayson Tatum, and the guess here is that the Celtics would rather have him than any other NBA superstar (yes, rather than Nikola Jokic, whose form is not as good). easy, and yes on Giannis Antetokounmpo who can’t space the floor, although Antetokounmpo would certainly be rampant with the Celtics’ level of shooting).

It won’t be a case of MVP for all voters, and it might not be a case of MVP enough to get Tatum across the finish line at the end of the season, but Celtics fans shouldn’t not worry too much if it leads to a title. . They’re looking at an all-time player who, in the end, will stand out historically even in a franchise with a long and storied roster of all-time players.

Tatum’s team thinks he’s underrated.

That’s not to say the Celtics will shy away from making Tatum’s case for MVP.

Quite the opposite, in fact: Mazzulla said Tatum was “absolutely, without a doubt, 100 percent” overlooked in MVP discussions.

“I think he’s been doing this for so long, and he’s on a really good team, and I think it hurts him sometimes,” Mazzulla said. “But his ability to do what he does on a great team, I think, says more about who he is as a player.”

Kristaps Porzingis emphatically agreed with Mazzulla.

“He’s not a PR player,” Porzingis said. “He doesn’t do everything for PR. He actually plays the right way. He doesn’t need to always score 50. He’s hungry to win, and there’s a big difference.

Porzingis, however, believes it was stolen.

Porzingis appreciates Tatum’s mentality and his willingness to play in the context of a team that can win titles when everyone buys in.

However, he doesn’t appreciate what he considers a theft on Tatum’s part.

“It looks like they stole a few rebounds from me and gave them to him, but it doesn’t matter, it’s JT,” Porzingis said with fake indignation that could also be serious. “I might be the only player in the NBA who has to grab 12 or 13 rebounds to get a double-double. It’s crazy.

Porzingis then added another little quip by praising Tatum, saying that Tatum “can guard anybody and dish out 10 assists like that, and steal some rebounds from me.”

For what it’s worth, a replay of Tatum’s rebounds suggests only one might have an argument in favor of Porzingis — Tatum’s ninth early in the second half. Porzingis challenged Nikola Vucevic and forced a miss, then he and Tatum appeared to tip him over before Tatum controlled him. To these eyes, it looked like Tatum should get the rebound, but we promise to keep an eagle’s eye on Tatum’s boards for Porzingis moving forward.

Porzingis finished with 22 points and – apparently – a totally inadequate seven rebounds.

Jaylen Brown’s profile has grown tremendously.

We’re not really breaking the news at this point, but Brown’s handle has grown almost unrecognizably since his rookie season, and the growth is especially visible since the Warriors in 2022 and the Heat in 2023 have taken advantage of their struggles in back-to-back playoff runs.

With five minutes remaining in the first half Saturday, Brown began pushing the ball up the floor. Bulls players pressured him from behind, and Brown simply slowed down for a second, collected himself and exploded forward for a layup.

That type of composure simply never existed for Brown. The Bulls aren’t exactly the strongest defensive team in the league (their defensive rating, in fact, is 25th in the NBA), but Brown’s handle is a big part of why he’s gotten so much traction improved as a passer and facilitator (it’s much easier to make great passes when you have good ball control), and his ability to get to the rim and score has improved immensely. This was particularly evident in the first half.

Brown finished with 19 points and eight assists.

The Celtics tried some zone (and were much better defensively).

For all their flaws, the Bulls proved Thursday that they can be a tough offensive team, but the Celtics were significantly better on the defensive end Saturday, showing that — as one might expect — a championship-caliber team can and will improve considerably against a lottery. -team tied when given a playoff mini-series to do so.

The Celtics held Zach LaVine to just 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting after demolishing them at TD Garden, and Nikola Vucevic needed 19 shots to score 19 points.

The Celtics were notably better in two areas: protecting ball handlers at the point of attack, and in a small 2-3 zone that they broke out repeatedly to great effect. A confused Bulls offense struggled to get shots off against the highly active and free-flowing zone, and the Celtics held them to just 37.8 percent shooting overall.

The Celtics slipped a little by 3.

After shooting 15 for 45 (33.3 percent) from three on Saturday, the Celtics are now 34.4 percent from three in their last nine games.

This 1) is admittedly a fairly arbitrary number (but not entirely statistically insignificant), 2) is barely noticeable enough to merit attention, and not notable enough to be a real concern, but also 3) a small amount of sand in their well. -Lubricated offensive gears.

Against a team like Chicago, who gave up a season-high 60 points in the paint to the Celtics, the little slipup didn’t mean much. But on a high-volume 3-point shooting team like the Celtics, dropping a few percentages might actually have some importance in the final score against a team with better interior defense.

Still, the expectation here is very strong that the Celtics will soon start trending upward, and perhaps in a big way.

The Celtics are good at getting back on track.

The Celtics have yet to lose consecutive games this season and have won by double digits in five of their six rebounds.

Porzingis said the Celtics’ egos flare when they lose.

“Even last season we had a moment,” Porzingis began intriguingly before trailing off. “Ah, we don’t need to go into that. But we’ve had our ups and downs throughout the season, and there’s no need to overreact, I feel.

“But tonight was a good bounce-back game.”

A busy Christmas week

The Celtics will now travel to Orlando for Monday’s game against the Magic before returning home to face the 76ers at TD Garden on Christmas Day. They will face the Pacers in back-to-back games at TD Garden on Friday and Sunday.