The Boston Celtics have lost game two at home as huge favorites for the second consecutive series. In game one of their current series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Celtics strolled to a victory. However, in game two, they were completely destroyed. The Celtics took a nine-point lead early in the first quarter, but the second half was all Cavaliers, and they won 118-94. Each team has one point in the series.

Even though he is a key member of the Celtics’ roster, Jayson Tatum has taken some heat for leading the club in scoring in the playoffs. In Thursday’s game, he shot 7 for 17 from the field and finished with 25 points. He had a depth of 2/5. His general ability to shoot the deep ball has not impressed Bill Simmons, but his percentage from three is 40%.

While he ranked 113th in 3-point shooting last season at 35%, Bill Simmons ranked 79th this season at 37.9%. Simmons made this comment during an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast. At 32.3%, he finished 76th in the 2023 playoffs. I’m sick of seeing Jayson Tatum portrayed as a phenomenal 3-point shooter capable of making ridiculous step-backs, even though there is no proof of this in the statistics. I can’t help but compare Tatum to other scorers like SGA, Luka, Jokic, Brunson, Donovan Mitchell, Ant Edwards, and others. Tatum just doesn’t seem up to par as a scorer, especially when compared to these other players. I voted for Tatum for first team All NBA, and I’m not sure if I had him ranked fourth or fifth for MVP.

Even though 25 points doesn’t necessarily indicate a bad game, it’s worth noting that Jayson Tatum, who is widely considered to be one of the NBA’s top players, isn’t exhibiting the kind of play that Simmons mentioned in reference to other players’ struggles in the playoffs. At the moment, Jalen Brunson is regularly putting up 30–40 points. He returned to score 29 points despite sitting out much of game two. Such play from Tatum is exactly what the Celtics need.