Eddie Home: Jayson Tatum seems like a person on a mission for Celtics

Eddie Home: Jayson Tatum seems like a person on a mission for Celtics initially appeared on NBC Sports activities Boston

Boston Celtics followers breathed a collective sigh of reduction when Jayson Tatum appeared to keep away from a critical ankle damage Monday evening in Miami.

However in case you ask Eddie Home, Celtics followers must also be inspired, as a result of Tatum flashed a unique facet of himself following the incident.

With simply over 5 minutes remaining in Recreation 4 and the Celtics up 13 on the Warmth, Tatum hoisted a dead-ball 3-point try after Warmth guard Patty Mills was whistled for a foul on Boston’s Derrick White. Miami large man Bam Adebayo contested Tatum’s post-whistle shot and landed in Tatum’s airspace, inflicting Tatum’s left foot to land on Adebayo’s proper foot and twist awkwardly.

Tatum addressed the incident moderately tersely in his 1-on-1 with NBC Sports activities Boston’s Abby Chin after Boston’s 102-88 win.

“I am positive, I am good,” Tatum replied when requested about his ankle. “I wasn’t frightened about it — transfer on to the following play, we nonetheless had a recreation to win.”

Tatum and Adebayo are shut buddies who performed AAU basketball collectively rising up and had been in the identical draft class. However the Celtics star had little interest in discussing their relationship or dwelling on the play, and clearly was targeted on maintaining it transferring.

Home, who was a member of the final Celtics crew to win an NBA title in 2008, cherished Tatum’s postgame strategy and the way it proved the All-Star has a singular focus this postseason.

” what I took from that? It is that (Tatum) is like, ‘I do not care, we’re simply making an attempt to win,'” Home stated of Tatum’s postgame feedback, as seen within the video participant above. “I do know Bam and Jayson performed on the identical AAU crew, in order that they’ve recognized one another for a very long time — they love one another, they’re brothers off the court docket — nevertheless it’s about getting this W and transferring ahead. The larger aim is the championship — hoisting that Larry O’Brien Trophy, placing the gold up within the air.”

Whereas Tatum is ultra-competitive, he does not at all times present it publicly and sometimes will socialize with opposing gamers after video games. However this postseason, Home sees a person on a mission.

“I like to listen to Jayson Tatum speaking like that, as a result of it is a completely different speak than I’ve heard earlier than,” Home stated. “It sounds extra targeted. It sounds locked in to the duty, and that is the Jayson Tatum that I believe everyone has been clamoring for.

“Everyone’s been saying, ‘Hey, man, we would like him to be locked in like this,’ and it feels wish to me with that assertion, it is all enterprise — all gasoline, no brakes from this level ahead.”

Tatum performed with an additional edge Monday in Miami; he had a comparatively quiet scoring evening (20 factors on 5 of 14 taking pictures) however threw down a large dunk on Caleb Martin within the fourth quarter and appeared to stare down the Warmth ahead, who knocked him to the ground with a tough foul in Recreation 1.

The Celtics might be examined going ahead if large man Kristaps Porzingis misses important time as a result of calf damage he suffered Monday evening. But when we will see this model of Tatum all through the playoffs, Porzingis’ absence might not matter.