It was such a joy just to watch Tatum make the right basketball play, over and over again. In years past, the team's undoing was that they couldn't create offense when defenses loaded up to stop Tatum. That was a function of both Tatum's playmaking ability as well as the players around him. Both those issues have been resoundingly dealt with.
Tatum's willingness to move the ball reminded me of one of my favorite LeBron moments. In 2017, when the Cavs were playing the Pacers in the playoffs, Indiana had a chance to take a 1-0 lead in the series. End of the game, down by one, they get the ball into Paul George, who is immediately doubled. He gives it up to CJ Miles, who takes the last-second shot and misses. After the game, George is sitting at the podium, complaining that he didn't get the last shot. "CJ took it upon himself, but that's gotta be me", I think he said. They asked LeBron about it, and his response was, "look, I can't speak for Paul, but if you send two guys at me, I'm giving the ball up every single time. We've got a 4-on-3 and I trust my teammates to make shots. And if they miss, I'll sleep just fine knowing that's the right basketball play."
It struck me then there here were two guys: one doing what he thought great players did - demand the ball, take the last shot, be the man - and one who was already a great player and didn't have to prove anything to anybody. Tatum's always been unselfish, but the lengths that he took that to especially in these playoffs, sticking with it even as the outside criticism mounted, shows unbelievable maturity and growth.
