Jayson Tatum was granted his wish in Charlotte on Monday night. Avoiding load management with minimal games left in the season, he dazzled in front of a crowd of 19,000 ticket holders. While it was a road matchup for the Celtics, several fans were seen donning Kelly green. When the cameras were directed toward the bench, many of the young supporters were sporting Tatum’s #0.
Fans hopes came true as the Celtics tied the season series, defeating Charlotte 118-104 away from home. And if there’s one takeaway from all this, Tatum loves to play the Hornets on Monday evenings. Jayson Tatum has averaged 36.2 points, 8 rebounds and 4.7 assists in six total career games on Monday against Charlotte.
Given he spent one year at Duke University, it does make sense why he loves returning to the state of North Carolina.
Last July, Tatum specified why he’s not fond of load management at a Nike Elite Youth Basketball camp. For JT, he appreciates the support on the road, especially from the fans who travel miles to see him hoop.
After the Celtics 130-104 victory on St. Patrick’s Day, Tatum once again reiterated his displeasure about not being able to play away games.
“I don’t like to sit out,” Tatum told NBC Sports Boston in March. “I understand if I was injured or whatever. I just love to play the game. Especially on the road—so many fans out there with Tatum zero jerseys on, came to see me play. I kind of take pride in making sure I’m available as much as I can.”
While other stars in the NBA tend to rest towards the end of a long 82-game season, Tatum sets himself apart from the others. It’s the Mamba mentality. After all, he grew up idolizing the late Kobe Bryant. With the magic number dwindling to just two games, the C’s star doesn’t have plans to pump the breaks just yet.
Not even Joe Mazzulla can get much rest out of Tatum, who’s been experimenting with various lineups down the stretch. First in the Eastern Conference at 59-16, Tatum is focused on competing night in and night out. It doesn’t matter the opponent — he’s missed just five total games this season. The former Duke star has played a total of 509 games over his seven-year career with the C’s.
And this is what I admire about Tatum. An incredibly skilled and versatile player, I often get anxious about his shot selection. However, these are traits that make a player so special. It’s a mentality that the Celtics organization will never take for granted.
Tatum got full revenge after the Celtics dropped a 121-118 nail-biter back in Charlotte in November. Notorious for cooking the Hornets, the St. Louis native matched wingman Sam Hauser for a team-high 25 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and one block.
Realistically, how many tuned in to watch the Celtics destroy the Hornets on a Monday night? He was correct in the sense a crowd full of Celtics faithful was present to watch their team. Over time, it’s become clear that Celtics supporters aren’t just local, but are spread across the nation and around the world.
The amount of “Let’s go, Celtics” chants across various areas has become my favorite part of spectating road games. Houston, Denver, Charlotte, Portland, the list goes on. And on Monday night, Tatum gave them their money’s worth.
Acknowledging their eagerness to come back after losing to the Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals, Tatum and the Celtics have taken a significantly different approach in the season’s final stretch. While they suffered a few defeats toward the end of last year, Boston plans to finish out strong.
“I think last year we were so antsy to get back to the Finals,” Tatum told NBC Sports Boston. “We may have took some things for granted. This year, we’ve done a really good job of not skipping steps and respecting every game, every day, trying to get better.”
It’s clear why the Celtics star loves to play in Charlotte. In 23 career games against the Hornets, JT has averaged 26.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists. More impressive, after dropping 45 back in November, he’s averaged 35 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 5 assists in two matchups against them. On the year, he’s shot 43 percent from deep, and over 50 percent from the floor.
Over the last seven matchups against Charlotte, he’s put up 39 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.4 assists.
On Monday, the offense came naturally to Tatum. Given Charlotte wasn’t switching too often on defense, it opened up the lane and mismatches for Tatum. Left alone on the strong side, the drive to the rim was simply smooth on several occasions. Given former teammate Grant Williams started at the five, size was a decent factor in the matchup for Boston.
Not afraid to let it fly from deep, Tatum tallied 34 minutes and finished 4-10 from beyond the arc. While Jaylen Brown normally closes out the first quarter, Tatum played a full third and third 12 quarter minutes.
This time, Charlotte’s roster looked drastically different following their trade deadline reconstruction. Finishing with another double-double, it’s refreshing to see how healthy and ambitious JT is feeling as the C’s head into the playoff season.
