Jayson Tatum's biggest miss in Friday's loss to Portland that you won't see in the final box score

Jayson Tatum's shooting slump includes him missing all six of his 3's on Friday, his last 20 3-point attempts overall, and wide-open teammate Jaylen Brown for a potential game-winning shot.

With the game on the line, Jayson Tatum once again drew a crowd.

He dribbled to his right as a second defender trailed, and did what Tatum has done a lot of these days.

Tatum took a forced, ill-advised shot rather than pass to an open teammate which in this particular end-of-game scenario, was Jaylen Brown.

After Tatum’s missed shot wound up in the hands of the Blazers who soon called a time-out, Brown didn’t move immediately from the spot where he was open for a potential game-winner, most likely playing the “would-a, could-a, should-a” game in his head that so many Celtics fans are doing more often lately.

Tatum is an exceptionally gifted player; easily one of the NBA’s best scorers who is talented but like all next-level, talent-on-the-rise, he has some flaws to his game.

These are the games when those flaws take center stage and fuel his critics who believe he’s too consumed by calling his own number and racking up stats, rather than racking up wins.

How he missed a wide wide-open Brown at such a critical moment in the game, is surprising.

And while the Celtics’ shooters weren’t exactly torching the nets - that includes Brown who was 2-for-7 from 3-point range against the Blazers - Tatum’s trust in himself remains significantly stronger than it is for others even in situations where his shot has been incredibly off the mark.

Tatum missed all six of his 3-point attempts against Portland, and has missed his last 20 three-point attempts with his last 3-point make coming in the first quarter of Boston’s 114-112 win over the injury-riddled Chicago Bulls on January 15.

And yet against the Blazers, Tatum still managed to score and rebound at a high clip, with 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

It speaks to Tatum's greatness, but that greatness will remain potential unfulfilled until he learns what appears to be the most difficult lesson in all this - trusting his teammates.

No one questions whether he and Jaylen Brown get along.

They do; they really do.

But moments like what we witnessed at the end of the loss to Portland, raise concerns and questions about whether the two can co-exist in a way that wins games more consistently than we’ve seen this season.

It is a perplexing problem to witness first-hand, especially when you consider how well these two have played in previous seasons that ended with the Celtics making a deep playoff run.

This season, simply getting to the playoffs would be a major accomplishment for this team.

That seems crazy to think about considering it was just two years ago when the Celtics faced the Miami Heat in the 2020 Eastern Conference finals in the bubble.

That seems so long ago, a destination that this team as they’re constructed now has no chance of arriving anytime soon.

And as much as Boston’s lack of top-shelf depth factors into their unlikely potential to make a deep postseason surge, any chance of a dramatic turnaround has to be fueled by Tatum.

But it doesn’t have to be the way he has done things in the past which for the most part, is outscoring foes.

The Tatum narrative is full of impressive scoring nights, for sure. But if he’s looking to write a new chapter on this season, he can’t waste moments like the one we witnessed at the end of Friday’s game, a game in which he trusted himself to deliver a basket in the closing seconds rather than pass that responsibility on to another teammate who was wide open.

Here are some of the standouts - the Stars, Studs and Duds - from Boston’s 109-105 loss.

STARS

Jusuf Nurkic: The fact that he became the latest NBA center to dominate Boston, comes as a surprise to no one. Not only did he tally a monster double-double of 29 points and 17 rebounds with six assists, but he also grabbed all the must-get rebounds down the stretch as well as made clutch shots and passes.

STUDS

Anfernee Simons: Only 22 years old, Anfernee Simons is going to be a problem for many teams in the future. His quickness off the dribble and ability to not just recognize mismatches but exploit them will be huge in his development. He finished Friday’s game with 21 points on 8-for-17 shooting to go with four assists and not a single turnover.

Grant Williams: While he has little to no shot at the league’s Most Improved award, the progress that Williams has been making with his game is undeniable. And now, he’s doing more than just knocking down corner 3-pointers, too. Williams served up a little bit of everything against the Blazers as he came off the bench and scored 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting to go with eight rebounds and three assists.

DUDS

Celtics’ 3-point defense: Portland has been a good 3-point shooting team this season (they came in ranked 11th this season in 3-point percentage), but not this good! The Blazers made 48.5 percent (16-for-33) of their 3-pointers on Friday, a surprisingly efficient performance even against a Celtics defense that ranks 16th in opponent three-point percentage (.348) but fifth overall in defensive rating (107.3)