Will Top-5 Tatum Ever Return?

The four-time All-Star had another poor shooting night, consistently coming up empty down the stretch in a 118-117 loss at Utah.

SALT LAKE CITY – Having spent time as a Boston Celtics assistant, it’s no shock that Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy would have a pretty solid game plan for how to limit Jayson Tatum. 

But what we saw in Utah’s 118-117 win over Boston wasn’t just the ex-assistant exacting payback against his former team. 

What we saw is what tends to happen in the playoffs; that is, your best player has to go with a second and third counter move in order to be impactful. 

But as the jumpers continued to be off the mark, Tatum never adjusted to double-teams, the tilts and the blitzs that the Jazz kept calling up after he touched the ball. 

They would come, he’d pass the ball. 

Done. 

The only thing is, that’s not what 25 year stars with his basketball pedigree are supposed to do. 

This game had the vibe of so many we’ve seen from Tatum and the Celtics lately; glimpses of greatness but lacking the kind of complete focus needed to win. 

For those keeping track at home, Boston is now just two games above-.500 (8-6) since the All-Star break. 

So for all those dreams of a deep postseason run, keep in mind that the Green Team is playing at a just-above .500 level which can be seen as many things - the makings of a championship contender ain’t one of them. 

And while there may be a series of legit reasons that may help explain away how they let yet another winnable game get away from them, it doesn’t change the fact that much of their struggles lately come back to one player - Tatum. 

He is a phenomenal talent and is deserving all the praise and adulation he has been showered with in recent years. 

But he’s simply not getting the job done.