Jayson Tatum's Rise to the Top

OnTheBlack

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We can all make fun of Doc bits that is the ultimate compliment. He’s thinking about how an opposing player made him feel hopeless. Pierce and Wilkins were on the good guys for him. That G6 lebron game was incredible, objectively, and Tatum might have been better tonight. Difference was the C’s didn’t quite against LBJ. Tatum snatched their soul tonight, and they gave up in the 3rd.
 

jmcc5400

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Fittingly, on a day in which he ascended into the inner circle of Celtics greats, Tatum’s 51 points moved him past Bob Cousy and Tommy Heinsohn (not to mention Al Horford, among others) to move into 66th all time in playoff points.
 

TripleOT

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So Tatum dispatched KG and Kyrie, and the Nets imploded.
Tatum went into Milwaukee and dominated a close out game, and the Bucks still haven’t recovered.
Did Tatum just blow up this iteration of the Sixers, or will they retool on the edges and try to run it back?

Tatum also sent Heat Game 7 attendees home unhappy last season. Hopefully he will do it again. It’s probably too ambitions to expect a sweep. Celtics in 6.
 

reggiecleveland

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So many athletes I've coached who need to watch this:

View: https://twitter.com/TLee_WMTW/status/1657897967582322692?s=20


For all that people want these players to be zoned in and fired up and whatnot, it can make you tight. Can't be thinking out there.
If only it was so simple that that there was one answer. It all depends on the athlete and the situation. There is an ideal zone for the situation and if you are too relaxed to too fired up you can miss out. The answer is not always the same which is what makes it difficult.
 

Spelunker

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He wasn't just making shots, he was literally hitting nothing but the bottom of the net. And he was driving aggressively and finishing with both hands. He had the swagger, and it was the best game I've ever seen him play.
And he also played amazing D! Several steals! Should have been two blocks! Deflections! Five assists!

An incredible- *incredible*- all around game.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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If only it was so simple that that there was one answer. It all depends on the athlete and the situation. There is an ideal zone for the situation and if you are too relaxed to too fired up you can miss out. The answer is not always the same which is what makes it difficult.
Totally agreed. But I’ve got a talented kid on my team right now that needs this strapped to his eyeballs.
 

NomarsFool

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I think it’s also a case of sometimes shots go in and sometimes they don’t, but we as humans want to find a reason and a narrative for observed randomness. Flip a coin three times and they all come up “heads” we say we are locked in and focused :)
 

Ed Hillel

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If only it was so simple that that there was one answer. It all depends on the athlete and the situation. There is an ideal zone for the situation and if you are too relaxed to too fired up you can miss out. The answer is not always the same which is what makes it difficult.
Totally true, but there’s a media and fan bias (especially in Bos and NY) towards the being fired up execute under extreme self pressure thing. I’m sure it’s been a very difficult process for Tatum to go through in Boston.
 

reggiecleveland

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Totally true, but there’s a media and fan bias (especially in Bos and NY) towards the being fired up execute under extreme self pressure thing. I’m sure it’s been a very difficult process for Tatum to go through in Boston.
I don't really buy he was too fired up when he was playing badly. He was deferring and not attacking, and tentative with his shot, he jogging up and down the floor, not running back on D, basically low energy. I hope, but fear he will be extremely streaky, happy and relaxed when shots fall.
 

dhellers

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Is this still the best Tatum photo or is there a better one?
View attachment 64772
Tatum's game was amazing and great, but I still give PP props for game 7 vs cleveland in 2008.
If he doesn't match Lebrons 40+ points the Celts loose.
If Tatum has just a good game, Celts still probably win.

BTW:, in the superstition department: was the sox being swept by cardinals the payment for son-of-St-Louis Tatum lighting it up?
 
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Senator Donut

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I don't have any new ground to cover on Tatum's 51, but two weeks ago I went to the Nike store in Back Bay to buy a pair of his signature shoes for my son, toddler size 4C. He has clearly inherited the title from TB12 as the most beloved Boston athlete. I remember my father talking about getting to see Orr play at the old Garden, and I felt almost compelled to get those sneakers, knowing he's likely to remembered the same way.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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This is easy to say after the fact- but I did feel at the time like his near-garbage time 3 at the end of game 6 was huge. It was almost like a heat check going into game 7 ("have I figured it out?? Yes I have"). I am trying to think of a comparison... maybe TB12 era Pats still throwing deep up late in the 4th, using live reps as practice?
 

Reverend

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This is easy to say after the fact- but I did feel at the time like his near-garbage time 3 at the end of game 6 was huge. It was almost like a heat check going into game 7 ("have I figured it out?? Yes I have"). I am trying to think of a comparison... maybe TB12 era Pats still throwing deep up late in the 4th, using live reps as practice?
I had the exact same reaction. Like, well that was fun, but it wasn’t important or even really had a point…

Or did it…?
 

TripleOT

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Tatum does this pre-game shoot around thing where Grant Williams wallpapers himself to Tatum’s chest, and JY rises up to shoot corner and slot threes. Tatum has put in the work to be supremely confident that if he can get a shot off without it being blocked, he’s going to score.

When he gets it going, his shot selection isn’t necessary better, but it’s tighter. He’s stronger with the dribble, and his legs, hips, torso, and arms are all right. His drives are all the more devastating, now that defenders have to respect the long ball even more. That Tatum is a premier scorer who can put up historic numbers in a game.

In the first three plus quarters of Game 6, he was off balance and awkwardly extended way too much, and put up historically bad playoff volume shooting numbers.

Tatum’s belief in his process and his skills is why we are not poring over threads about rebuilding this team.
 

ManicCompression

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An XKCD classic:
I'm always puzzled when people think that personality matters in every single aspect of life outside of athletic performance. Narratives are most often narratives for a reason, and it really matters if your star player is James Harden or Jayson Tatum. These games aren't just a series of random events; they're the product of years of preparation and hard work. The purpose of that comic is to remove any meaning from athletic achievement and god help any sports fan who actually believes that what they're watching is the product of sheer randomness.
 

RorschachsMask

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So far in the playoffs, Tatum is shooting 10% better on pull-up threes than he is catch and shoot. 39.4% on pull-ups, and 29.5% on C&S.

Hitting the pull-up against Miami is huge, so hopefully he keeps that up, and we get some correction with the C&S.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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So far in the playoffs, Tatum is shooting 10% better on pull-up threes than he is catch and shoot. 39.4% on pull-ups, and 29.5% on C&S.

Hitting the pull-up against Miami is huge, so hopefully he keeps that up, and we get some correction with the C&S.
Guessing its at least partially a function of the Hawks and Sixers defending him well on C&S. Take away his strength. The Heat are likely to attempt this as well.

I am liking and subscribing to a Tatum who hits the C&S at 40% and a pull-up at this rate. That's both diabolical and Curry-esque.
 

Reverend

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I'm always puzzled when people think that personality matters in every single aspect of life outside of athletic performance. Narratives are most often narratives for a reason, and it really matters if your star player is James Harden or Jayson Tatum. These games aren't just a series of random events; they're the product of years of preparation and hard work. The purpose of that comic is to remove any meaning from athletic achievement and god help any sports fan who actually believes that what they're watching is the product of sheer randomness.
Well, yes and no. It’s not that there are no narratives that are real. Research has shown, though, that by and large, once people have a narrative that “makes sense,” then they accept it and don’t investigate whether or not there are other narratives that make sense and then try to figure our which of the various possible narratives is correct.

So the point is that just because we have a narrative that makes sense to us doesn’t mean it’s accurate unless we have evaluated it against other possible narratives… but we tend not to do that. There’s an implicit nod to this phenomenon when someone notes that there is a “dominant narrative” and then suggests something else, but that also underscores the reality of the phenomenon.

If you want to talk about the reasons that certain narrative are there, that’s a fun subject. But it’s not necessarily a function of them being accurate representations of what happened, but rather, what we like to think happens—it’s often more fun.
 

CapeCodYaz

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So many athletes I've coached who need to watch this:

View: https://twitter.com/TLee_WMTW/status/1657897967582322692?s=20


For all that people want these players to be zoned in and fired up and whatnot, it can make you tight. Can't be thinking out there.
so true--see it all sports at all levels--when a player or team is loose for whatever reason they always play better--good to feel a little nervous (even in co-ed softball I would still get butterflies until the first at bat)
 

Devizier

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The reason why armchair psychology sucks is because we can't really get into the players' heads. Sometimes, what seems like a player losing their cool could actually be a concealed injury. At other times, it's the complete opposite. This isn't to say that mentality doesn't affect their game. Anybody who has played sports -- guessing that's all of us -- knows that. Once you are actually *thinking* on the field/court/whatever, you're pretty much dead.
 

slamminsammya

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There is a difference between thinking each shot is random and modelling the aggregate of all shots as a random process. This is the difference between aleatoric and epistemic uncertainty. Like what @Devizier said.