Tatum has been better at every aspect of the game except scoring efficiency, where Brown admittedly has a large edge. Tatum is rebounding at twice the rate Brown is, creating assists 30% more often, blocking shots at three times the rate Brown is, turning the ball over 30% less often, etc. This isn’t a slight to Brown. He’s been good these playoffs, but there really isn’t a close comparison of their overall contributions to winning.
Again, can't most of these stats, except turnover rate be tied to their usage?
Tatum is literally not being asked to play defense. They are using him as their second big, protecting the corner for PJ Tucker and the like, so of course, he's going to gobble up rebounds. Jaylen is being asked to guard Harden and Maxey at the top of the key, chasing them around the court, going around screens, he's the guy leaking out, not the guy cleaning up misses on the defensive end. Put Jaylen in the corner on Tucker, and put Tatum out at the top of the key, and what happens to those rebounding numbers?
As for assists, Brown is never going to be a distributor, but he also isn't being asked to, except in the moments when Tatum isn't on the floor, and even then, he's usually always paired with 2 other guards. Jaylen's USG% in these playoffs is down to 27.6% from 31.4% in the regular season. Same thing has happened now in 3 consecutive post-seasons. In 2021 playoffs, Jaylen's USG% dropped from 29.7 to 23.7 in the playoffs, and last year, it dropped from 30.5 to 26.9. This year, I'll bet his USG% after the 1st quarter is really low compared to normal. Tatum's usage has also dropped in the past 2 years in the playoffs (it went up to 33.3% in 2021 during the playoffs) from 32.1 and 32.7 to 29.6 both last year and this season.
Where does most of the usage Jaylen and Jayson go from the regular season to the playoffs, you ask. Well, Marcus Smart of course.
2021: 18.4-20.7
2022: 18.3-21.2
2023: 17.8-21.7
In Game 4, Tatum finished with 24 points (on 9/20 and 1/6), 18 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocks. Everyone was loving his second half. They lost by 1. In the first half, he was 1/9 from the field, had 2 points, 9 boards, 2 assists and 2 blocks. In the 1st half, Jaylen was 7/11, had 16 points, 3 rebounds and an assist, and was the C's were even when he was on the court, while Tatum was -6. In the 2nd half, Tatum was +9 and Jaylen was +6. Did Tatum really do more to contribute to winning that game, or did he do more to get them to close to winning, because he dug them a hole that only Jaylen kept from being a blowout? Jaylen's usage in the first half was 27.7%. In the 2nd half, when they made him go stand in the corner, his usage was 13.2%. It's going to be hard to put up any type of numbers when you don't see the ball. Jaylen's 2nd half usage was the 6th most on the team. That's criminal.
In Game 5, when Brown only went 4/6 for 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in the 1st half, and had a -1, did he do more or less than Tatum who went 3/11, but finished 15 points (8 from the line), 5 boards and 3 assists, but the team was a -14 with him on the floor? Jaylen's usage in the 3rd quarter last night, the quarter that effectively decided the game, was 15.8%. Tatum was 60%. Tatum put up 21 points in the 2nd half on 16 shots. If he's going to get that much more usage than Jaylen, he damn well better put up those numbers. Jaylen still pitched in 14 on 10 shots in that 2nd half.
Listen, I'm most assuredly not saying Jaylen Brown is a better basketball player than Tatum. But, if Tatum is going to be asked to be the man on offense, and we're going to take the ball out of Jaylen's hands and let Tatum roll with it, he needs to do more. That's the reality, especially when we aren't asking him to do anything on the other end, and asking Jaylen to cover their most talented player over and over again. So when I see folks constantly taking swipes at Jaylen, I just don't get it.
Put him in the corner on Tucker, let him have the USG rates that Tatum is getting on offense, and I'm pretty sure Jaylen will throw up a bunch of 30 and 10 games too. Those still won't do us any good if he starts 1/9 in the first half, and pours in numbers in the 2nd half in a desperate attempt to dig out of a hole he created.