Basketball Is More Than Just PPG - Jayson Tatum : Film Session 

Tatum has been consistently double and triple teamed all playoffs... anyone would have bad shooting splits facing this kind of defense. Difference is 2-3 years ago he would be trying to force shots through the tough defense. Now he's passing out to the 1-on-1 or the open man and getting points.

exactly. these idiots disparaging Tatum don't understand the gravity he pulls from the opposing team's defense; drawing double, triple, quadruple teams. Excellent video. And once Tatum gets angry and drops 50 these kids will go back to insisting he's the MVP. The Cs know opposing teams are game-planning for him. He's playing with the correct pace, making the right reads, and taking what the defense gives. Sure, he's not shooting 50%, but he's doing literally everything else well and the team is winning.

Most importantly and most impressive, is the fact that Tatum is making these reads and plays from the top of the key/middle of the floor. Which most players outside of Bron and Joker struggles to do.

that last one, JT had 5 pairs of eyes and 4 defenders on him, 4 team mates open or wide open... crazy gravity

He's not playing to score all the points. The defense made him adjust and he made decisions that elevated his team mates. Keep going JT!

JT now is like KG in 2008, focusing on rebounds and defense. That's really important especially when KP is not playing in this round.

The Heat and Cavs game plan has been to make Tatum a playmaker. In previous years, Tatum would have forced more shots and would rack up turnovers. Now, Tatum is making the easy pass. Sure, he can shoot better but he is still impacting the game positively.

I'm old enough to remember when Bird averaged only 15ppg in the '81 finals and I'm sure plenty of casual fans, even the finals MVP voters, thought that meant he didn't have a good finals. Of course, he averaged more than 15rpg against a Rockets team anchored by the legendary Moses Malone. There are more ways than one to help your team win. Last night Tatum had a double with a team high in both rebounds and assists and a 5:1 assist to turnover ratio while playing lock down d. Uhmm... thank you sir may we have another?

I’m so happy to finally come across someone with this take, because I’ve honestly been losing my mind seeing ppl just straight up slander my boy day in and day out.

Funnily enough, Kenyon Martin on Gil's Arena said it best, "he got a double double in like 37 minutes, he's fine."

I swear some people don't watch the games and stop reading thr stat sheet after points

Spot on. Tatum is not shooting well, but is playing well and mostly making the right plays. His defense has been really, really good.

If ever a bigger critic of Tatum its I but when I look at the numbers I have to admit I have no complaints of his play. When it comes to winning a title the absolute most important factor in winning a championship is defense. In today's NBA if you hold a team under100 theres a pretty good chance this teams going to win. I see growth from the whole team, recognizing the goal involves a balanced attack. Other than that 1 hiccup Nik they look good. Great vid my little brother.

One of the best basketball analysis videos I’ve seen gonna binge your stuff and definitely subscribing

channel is growing bro let’s go

Appreciate you for this!

great video, subscribed

Good stuff as usually 🌟

Great video man really informative

Nik, great video, totally agree with everything you said! I love Tatum, and I too want him to be the man scoring, but I am enjoying how well he plays basketball in all facets of the game! And, this Celtics team is the most complete team we've had since 2008. We have defined roles for everyone, they all know how to succeed with each other, and even with KP down for a little while, we are still humming along. I'm just enjoying this ride, and looking forward to your videos!

Finally, someone who actually watches the game and not just look at the scoreboard

That was amazing content!

Folks dont understand how Tatum's gravity is our engine. Literally noone else draws 3 defenders nearly every touch. His decision making off of his gravity is great.

If he gets his field goal percentage to be around 45% that’s golden. Play D and make your bunnies(post fades for him and mid ranges)

Great vid. RYA that low/medium ppg does not mean that the player didn't have a great game [think Bill Russell], but likewise it doesn't mean that you had a great game if you scored alotta points. It means you took alotta shots, which in and of itself doesn't mean you hit a high percentage or made good decisions on when and where to shoot/pass etc. The same goes for the other stats Nik mentioned. One of my favorite quotes is from Don Shula: "Statistics are like bikinis, they show you a lot, but they conceal the most important things." Numbers need to be analyzed and contextualized, which Nik does brilliantly, and generally they don't mean anything unless they are extreme and/or repeating. I think Tatum is a great player, one of my favs cuz he's fun to watch, but people shout MVP when he goes to the free-throw line and I'm not sure he's the MVP of his team. I like his game because, as Nik POINTED OUT, He's so smart. He's not a great athlete by NBA standards, he has great body control and he can spin quickly, but that where it ends. He's not fast, not very springy--he needs at least a couple of steps before he can get any height--he excels because he can read offenses and defenses really well and knows what to do, and I really appreciate that. I don't agree with Nik that he can guard 1 thru 5, but nobody can and nobody has to. The problem thus far is he hasn't played well in crunch time against the best competition. You can make a highlight reel from early playoff series but in the last two in which the Cs were eliminated he had multiple bad games and was visibly frustrated. At times he had that deer-in-the-headlights look. That is not criticism--Jordan had that look early in his career--but you haven't done it until you do it. Nik is confident that Tatum has overcome his turnover problems etc., and I hope he is right, but he hasn't been tested this season yet and in the past he has flunked each and every time. And, it seems, a lot of Cs' fans think they are gonna waltz into the winners' circle. The warriors were laughing at him on the court two years ago and the Heat embarassed him last year. Both the wolves and Thunder are better than the Heat/Warriors, and he is going to be severely challenged. In the Wolves case, the turnover twins will be defended by people who are faster, springier, bigger than Tatum and Brown and who are also highly skilled. The twins are stronger, more physical, but that's it. I'm not saying that he can't do it, just that he has to walk the walk. We have only one battle-tested player who has demonstrated that he is clutch at both ends of the court and that's Holliday. Tatum needs to prove that he can play well when it matters, and he hasn't yet. FYI. There's a Bill Russell doc on Netflix. It's sort of a pulpy, Netflixy type of biography, but interesting all the same. Itsa shame there isn't more footage of his play. Half the greatest plays I ever saw were his. One of the greatest blocks I ever saw was against the Bulls. Jerry Sloane was in the right corner with seconds left and the Cs up 1. Russ had both feet in the paint when Sloane got the ball and went up with that weird scissor kick jumper he had. He was a good shot and defender [and a dirty player, skills that he later taught the Jazz when he coached them] and it was a real oh-no moment. Defying Newton's laws of physics, Russ flashed out and somehow just managed to get the tip of his finger on the ball causing the shot to fall short. It was so shocking that the crowd at the garden fell silent for a moment in disbelief before they rose and roared. Impossible to describe in words but he actually seemed to be flying. He was moving so fast that he hurdled the Bulls bench and landed a few rows deep in the seats. His teammates rushed into the crowd and held him aloft and carried him to the locker room that way. Sloane said he couldn't believ Russell got to that shot, neither could I.

I think Tatum has been the best player of the Celtics so far because he is doing everything he leads the team in assist rebounds and is 3rd in scoring and he is playing defense.

Love this. Refreshing to find some true analysis. I have been watching crap all day.

Noti gang

Great vid bro, Help these people understand

thank you

You get a new subscriber brother let's go Celtics ☘️

Whenever I see a Tatum hater, I am convinced they look at the box score and didn't even watch the game. When Tatum is on the floor, the Celtics play like a well oiled machine on offense and defense. Could he be more consistent with his shooting? Of course he can! But he's reading the game at an exceptionally high level and is almost always making the right play. I LOVE Jaylen Brown, and think he's playing great, but the eye test tells you everything. Watch the Celtics when Tatum is on the bench, and Brown is in, and vice versa. The Celtics look and play so much more cohesively when he's on the floor. If you disagree, I'm sorry but you couldn't convince me in a million years that you actually watch the games. I still love how much better Brown is this year versus last year, but it just really paints the picture of how the stats don't really tell you the full story since JB is putting up monster stats right now. There is a reason Tatum is at or near the top of the league in plus minus year after year. Plus minus is a really awful stat when you look at it for a single game, but over the course of a whole season, season after season, it is one of the best stats, especially for a high minutes guy.

Just gained a sub mate 🤝🏾

Great analysis! I'd take thos type of performance over a 50 point from Tstum as long as the team is winning. If Boston wins banner 18, who cares how much Tatum scores to get us there.

Tatum looking like the Batman villan out there and the team looks like a team in the west he is on. Excellent video. Last year Tatum is step back threeing, going one on four and/or turning the ball over. 6'9" and can play like Ervin - I'll take it.

luv from twtr

Great video, so many people consume the nba through box scores and twitter clips not even watching games. Seems like they are always the loudest too.

Exactly what I'm saying.

Great video man, gotta show all the casuals on Twitter this video lol

thank you i didn't look over the film for this game yet but seeing the amount of people saying he gets carried are self reporting for being casuals, lacking basketball knowledge, and the ones who claim not to be are REALLY confusing me. i'm not just saying this because i hoop myself and am really into basketball but the casual eye really doesn't see much outside of make or miss/the box score and it shows with the comments about his play this postseason. Also it's objectively harder to get in shooting rhythm when you aren't hunting your shots against defenses in rotation like jb and dwhite and instead are embracing that attention to open the offense up. You can even look to dame performing better this year and years past when he has the ball like the sole main guy but struggling to get in rhythm more when giannis is healthy and he has a less ball dominant role; guys like ant, sga and brunson have it easier to get in rhythm due to their usage and amount of time with the ball.

Great video and analysis. The only possible legit complaint about Tatum in the first Cleveland game is that he seemed to get frustrated with his lack of clean looks and he threw up some really contested shots after holding the ball for most of the clock. If Cleveland (or any team) is going to try to lock him up with triple teams, he just needs to continue to trust and find his shooters.

Thanks for explaining Ram. Reading is not seeing. Xo❤

The standstill shot at 7:50 tells the whole story

☘️🔥

Tatum is just being smart. He doesn’t care about scoring 50, or being MVP, or any of that nonsense. He wants to win a championship. Last season the only way the C’s could win was if he carried the team with 30+. Now this team is so much better he doesn’t need to score that much. Also, they’ve yet to play a game where he needed to go off and score 30+. He gassed out last year. I honestly think this year the strategy is if he doesn’t need to wear himself out to win then he isn’t going to. I’m willing to bet he goes off and drops 40+ when they actually get some tough competition. Let all these other teams wear out their star players then come the finals JT will be fresh and ready to go.

There were like 5 posessions where his shots were superforced bc he decided he wanted to go one-on-one and, even when he couldnt get over whoever defended him, he kept dribbling until he could shoot (bricks). Dude, just pass the fucking ball. Btw, Brown does it too sometimes. Mezzula should not allow it tbh bc its usually when the other team cuts the point difference Pritchard and Hauser may had generated off the bench.

No brainer to subscribe

I'd much rather have Tatum score less, take less shots, if it means they play team basketball and move the rock. We have more than enough weapons to get points, which is why we're great this year. We need to keep the rock moving and not revert to iso ball.

I’d like to further hypothesize that maybe teams should be trying to win this way more. It’s possible we’ve gotten so locked into star ball that literally everything has become centric to it. That includes coaches defaulting to it, and more importantly coaches automatically game planning to it. What if that’s just bad strategy? What if teams should abandon the monster player model just to confuse the accepted paradigm. I think we see it. Tatum has not shot well, he still has 3 people on him, meanwhile white is torching the playoffs. It might just be advantageous to take advantage of these default strategies.

The first clip was of Tatum missing a wide open Jrue under the basket. Most of these are things you should expect from any starter. 2:06 he got lucky over helping. If Mitchell went to the corner and Thompson weren't a black hole, he'd be leaving either Mitchell or Garland wide open for a three instead of Horford who was there to help leaving Okoro. 2:59 pushing the pace caused this, not Tatum. Swap Tatum with Horford and it's the same thing. 3:12 good pass but not difficult. 3:43 basic PnR, every NBA player should be able to do this. 4:23 pass was terrible. How'd he miss Kornet on that roll? 4:34 Horford was open the whole time, Tatum coulda passed as soon as Tillman was heading down for the pin but he still tried to back down his defender. Just slow recognition on Tatum's part. 5:57 decent recovery but why not force LeVert to the baseline instead of letting him get a decent look at the rim? 6:05 good stunt but immediately backdoored giving up rebounding position. 6:15 bad idea dribbling into 3 guys, he'll lose it against better defenders, but good recovery to White. 6:27 great defense. 6:42 good pass, most impressive offensive thing so far. 6:57 good defense 7:05 missed a wide open Kornet under the rim. 2 > 40% of 3. Poor recognition, as soon as Mobley committed he should have started the lob to Luke. Does this really seem like a top 5 player's highlights? This is what I'd expect from a bench guy, not Tatum. His recognition is still too slow and because he isn't attacking quickly, it's going to hurt the Cs against championship level teams. It's not an issue yet but if the Wolves or Denver make it out of the West it's gonna cost the team a 'ship.

Some ppl are stupid. I’m glad our team doesn’t include a Luka type. Kicks were already off - I just finished grading final exams and am taking it easy.

Tatum also draws a double every time he touches the ball

when Tatum has his dribble I can't tell whether he's going to drive or shoot. Neither can his defender. He used to be much more predictable with his offense. those improved turnover numbers tell the story.

Jayson Tatum need stop MORE THREES if his struggle & stop fadeway if your defender height 6'5 DAMN

I thought he took two bad threes, and one bad turn around - everything else was fine, sometimes the ball dont go in. Guy's doing everything the team needs him to, at a crazy high level. I've found far, far more reasons to cheer him than criticize since the playoffs started. I still want you to get a new backing track, but the analysis is on point, you're get better and better.

If tatum would have facilitated juat like this we would hqve beat the warriors in finals he clearly does not need to score 50 points on the team we have ..i feel he is growing mentally he can see the game better now and is getting better defensively.

NBA 2k truly ruined a generation of basketball watchers

Diehard Celtics fan here, tatum dont give a damn bout points. This man want to win as many championships as possible by ANY means necessary. Sure he needs to score a little better but its not like they arent winning, so really who cares??? Embiid scores 30-50 a night and look at where he is. Brown White and Porzingis are MORE than enough to cover for a bad Tatum shooting night. Jrue and White are the best defensive backcourt in the league… the Jays are the best 2 way forwards in the league… they want this chip BAD.

People don’t understand the fact that this version of tatum is going to win us a finals. The great players still impact the game at an elite level even when the shot isnt falling. Id rather tatum is in a shooting slump now when we can survive it, instead of in the finals. Shooting goes up and down and tatums bad shooting nights are more in the spotlight since he doesnt take as many shots as these other high usage guys do.

Don't panic. It's just one game. Cle shot the lights out. The Cavs have won their last game of the season--ya heard it here first.

W video W Tatum propaganda W Celtics

All ok Nik?

It hurts to watch tatum struggles but he not only for offense he can play defense and rebound too and his iq is getting better as he gets older

DEFENSE wins championships, not stat padding

Tatums a much better defender than Brunson and edwards. Defense matters

It’s because with him scoring 30 a night it didn’t work in playoffs

No need to show us we know show these idiots in the media using trolling for clicks n views they don't watch the games and have so much to say honestly it makes me sick

take out Tatum, do you think Celtics will perform any better without his percieved "threat" whether he makes shots or not... so simple minded analysis that relies only on a performance of one player instead of the team as a whole!

Great video. They coulda used you on First Take, NBA Today and a half dozen other shows today instead of the clown takes they were spewing about Tatum.

The problem is people want JT to be an alpha scorer so bad like an SGA or Luka or even Spida. He is not. He will never be. He will have some nights but thats simply not his skill set. Thats like asking kawhi to consistently play 60+ games in a season. JT at his best is an all-around player. A point forward defender closer to the mold of grant hill. He is more draymond than he is steph or klay nf the problem is people want him to be steph or klay. They assess him as if hes steph. Assess him as if hes prime draymond. JT doesnt get enough credit for his defense. yes his efficiencies need to be better. 7/19 isnt goig to cut it. Either shoot better or pass the ball more and stop taking stupid shot like that iso side step 3 over tristan thompson with the clock winding down. Heres a good rule of thumb for JT. hes up to 15 shots and has made less than 7 shots so far? nope its not your night. Pass the ball. I dont want to see another shot unless its a FT, dunk or layup. Hes at 15 shots and has made 8+ shot? Keep shooting. So yes last night he couldve taken 4-5 less shots and passed the ball to someone else like hauser to get him going. And no we dont need JT to carry us to win the chip. We have d.white. And if that fails, we have JB. and Kp Is coming back. This is the 04 pistons or the spurs team of old. This is TEAM ball. Not superstar ball that so many people want to see so they can use JT in their MVP arguments vs. ant. We dont need an MVP when we have the best TEAM. #STRENGTH IN NUMBERS so yeah dont worry about JTs offense. D.white is on a heater. Ride it. Remember the playoffs the past 3Y? how many 30, 40 and 50 point games did JT have? its coming. We are due. My hope is it comes when we need it. We wont need it vs. the cavs. We wont need it vs. the knicks/pacers. D.white is enough and hes going to win ECF MVP. JT is fine doing his best draymond green impression.

How bout dem Celtics.

Pope, Murray and Jackson listed as questionable. Goodbye champs.

I don't need him to get 30, i need him to get downhill and draw fouls and make plays at the rim about 3 more times per game and take about 3 fewer lazy step backs per game. Maybe that's nit picking but your leader has to show that killer instinct and avoid "settling". It could easily be the difference between winning a championship or not.

As a Celtics fan, I don't know why we have to refuse that inefficiency from our best player could possibly be a problem. Mitchell, Brunson, Ant, Jokic, Murray, etc (that's just naming players this year, I could be here all day naming every star player in history), they all put up more games of good efficiency than JT while being the main guy that gets a lot of attention with less star talent around them. Why are we excusing Tatum like he's got too big a burden to carry? I'm not saying he's not playing well outside of his shooting efficiency, because his defense has been outstanding and his passing has been about as good as you get from him. At the end of the day, they put together a team this talented solely because Tatum hasn't been ready to truly step up to the plate as the guy offensively. I hate having to criticize him this much but you have to hold him to the standard of an MVP caliber player if you believe he's that good, and MVPs don't get excuses for why they aren't performing as well as they should. The Celtics are talented enough to win in this stage of the playoffs and probably into next round whether he's shooting well or not, but I can't sit here and say that I'm not concerned when he hasn't proven himself to be a consistent go to guy when things get tough.

tatum needs to be at his best if the Cs wants to win it all

Tatum is doing well as a facilitator but his fans arent mad cuz ppl are criticizing his shooting/scoring, theyre mad cuz they dare acknowledge that Jaylen Brown & Derrick White have been playing better in the playoffs. i personally dont care who does what as long as the Celtics win, but it’s ironic that C’s fans have tolerated the worst Jaylen slander for literal years but cant tolerate the most basic observation that Tatum might could shoot better. 🤷🏽‍♂️

What is ridiculous is that you would get on here & claim that ppl are complaining about Tatum’s point production. That’s a Nasty conflation, ppl think Tatum is soft…! Tatum is 6”8 over 215 lbs and is always at the mercy of the shooting percentage for the game. He doesn’t barely ever fight to get better positioning and get easier more efficient basket he simply allows defenders to dictate his action. That’s weak & passive aggressive. Tatum has also been having a lot of MVP discussion lately and he has MVP aspirations except you can’t be MVP and Passive they don’t go together…! Fans are upset with Tatum because he is Gaslighting them by having them advocate for him to be MVP and he comes out & plays like a scared little puppy instead of Big Dog…!

His shot selection is dreadful and he's very lackadaisical with a huge lead. Other than that he's great, but he's definitely dropped out of the top 10 and hasn't improved in the last 2 seasons.

Tatum was 4-17 before he he hit 2 in a row the last 5 minutes in a 25 point blowout. Why does he continue shooting when he has 2 teammates cookin? Same reason he can't throw an alley oop to JB in dunk contest. He can't stand seeing anyone else shine. I haven't touched a ball in 10 years a I could've throw a better lob.

Lol

Tatum hasn’t been the same since his boy Drake got cooked smh 😭

DEFENSE wins championships, not stat padding