The uncomfortable truth about Tatum, Brown and Media Bias
The Jayson versus Jaylen narrative is an easy agenda to push, and an even easier sell to an NBA fanbase that feeds off any form of drama among players and teammates - even when it isn't real.
PHILADELPHIA – One of the laziest narratives that has been peddled for months has been this growing divide between Boston Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
The team hasn't played great basketball, having spent most of this season around the .500 mark record-wise.
They have had stretches, lots of stretches in fact when the two looked and played like basketball strangers.
So of course the only (il)logical conclusion is that they can’t play well together, don’t like each other, and can’t wait to play in another city, right?
The Jayson vs Jaylen narrative is an easy agenda to push and even easier to sell to a fanbase always on the prowl for drama, making it an integral part of the uncomfortable truth about media bias that has nothing to do with politics, race, or gender.
And while the NBA has had more than its share of talented duos in the last decade or so, we have not seen anything quite like Tatum and Brown.
We haven’t seen two players this young and this good relative to the rest of the league, being charged with not only managing their own personal come-ups but also having to do in a prominent leadership role for an organization with such a rich, storied history and tradition of winning, like the Boston Celtics.
There’s no blueprint for how this is supposed to work well.
So it really shouldn’t be all that shocking that this journey by the Celtics, which is being led by Tatum and Brown, hasn’t gone smoothly.
But there seems to be a sense of headway being made for Boston after what has been a season full of headaches and heartbreak.
Boston comes into Friday night’s game at Philadelphia seeking their fourth straight win which would be the Celtics’ longest winning streak of the season.
Beyond the wins, we’ve seen a dramatic shift in Tatum and Brown showing that they’re more than just talented players, but rather talented players who can play in tandem.
Not only are they sticking together on the floor better, but sticking up for each other off the court as well.
Tatum usually says little on social media but was moved to respond to Perkins’ criticism. A number of NBA players supported Tatum’s take, including Brown who retweeted it shortly after it was posted.
Boston’s current three-game winning streak is the closest we have seen to Tatum and Brown, as team leaders living up to both the potential for success and the promise that their skills collectively can deliver.
During their last three games, here’s what their individual numbers look like.
Brown TATUM
27.3 points 25.3 points
10.3 rebounds 7.3 rebounds
6.7 assists 2.0 assists
51.7% shooting (31-for-60) overall 44.4% shooting (24-for-54) overall
57.1% (12-for-21) on 3’s 29.2% (7-for-24) on 3s
Statistically, this is what having two All-Stars should look like and why the idea of breaking them up, on so many levels, just doesn’t make a ton of sense if the goal is to build a championship-caliber team.
Tatum is well aware of the constant chatter about his future as well as Brown’s, in Boston.
“We live in a world where we’re on our phones and on TV, and we see all the things about we can’t play together and everyone in the media saying, ‘one of us has to go,’” Tatum told reporters recently. “We both want to be here, and we both want to figure it out. It’s not many players in the league, like JB (Brown); the grass ain’t always greener. This year hasn’t been what we expected but in the long run, it’ll be good for us. The most important thing is we both want it (to win) extremely bad. We want to try and figure it out, together. We got each other’s back and we’re going to give it all we got to figure this out, regardless of what people may say.”