SAN FRANCISCO — Jayson Tatum’s response to Golden State coverage in Game 1 was a career-high 13 assists.
The nature of the Celtics win considered, the Celtics star considers it appropriate that he had more assists than points (12). And he doesn’t sound particularly concerned about finding more room for his shot in Game 2 on Sunday.
“I feel like I made the right play more often than not. You know, it’s not much to overthink,” he said before Saturday’s practice at the Chase Center. “I feel like it’s a lot of shots, the open shots that I miss more often than not that I make. So it’s not something that I’m losing sleep over. You know, we won. That was most important, right. It’s the Finals. That’s all that matters.
“Obviously, I know I’ve got to play better. I can’t shoot like that every game and hopefully we win. I expect to play better shooting-wise, but just impacting the game in different ways to do my part and let’s get a win,” Tatum said. “I will continue to do that. Just read the game, read each play. That’s how I kind of approach next game.”
Tatum was 3 for 17 in Game 1, 1 for 5 from 3, and missed the three shots he took in the fourth quarter, despite the fact the Celtics went on a historic 40-16 run over the last 12 minutes. He goes into Sunday night with the knowledge that he has bounced back from every low point with a strong scoring performance this postseason.
“Once you’ve done something before, you know how to respond. I’ve had some bad shooting nights in the NBA. So it’s like, I’ve been here before,” he said. “I know what to do next game. I think a lot of it is mental. You don’t let it creep into your mind. I can’t do nothing about what happened last game. I missed those shots and it is what it is. It’s all about how to prepare and get ready for the next one. It was not so much about me and what I need to do. It’s about what we need to do and how we need to be prepared, the adjustments that they are going to make and how they are going to respond. We need to be ready and not relax just because we’re up 1-0.”
Brittney Griner strong
Grant Williams, a particularly active Players Association representative, arranged to have T-shirts delivered to the team by Saturday’s practice showing support for Brittney Griner, the WNBA star currently disposed in Russia.
Marcus Smart wore his — with the inscription “We are BG” — to the practice day podium.
“The shirts were super important not only showing our support for our sister that is detained over in Russia, Brittney Griner, we just wanted to show that togetherness and love that we have throughout not only the NBA but the WNBA,” Williams said. “She’s been a vital part of the WNBA over years past, college, and in the amount of impact she’s had on young female athletes, USA and overseas. We hope to have her back in the U.S. and reunited with her family and do what she loves and bring that love and tenacity she always plays with on the court.
“I was able to coordinate that with the WNBAPA and NBAPA,” he said. “They sent them overnight to get them here for today. They did a phenomenal job, and want to credit them to make that process happen. We just wanted to do that as a team. It was one of those things where no one questioned it. Everyone said, Let’s do it. Everyone put the shirt on immediately when we got them, fresh off the box. They were ironed and good to go. So we wanted to show that love and support.”
Room to shoot
Draymond Green, in the wake of the Warriors’ Game 1 loss, noted that Al Horford, Smart and Derrick White combined to make 15 of the Celtics’ 21 3-pointers, intimating that this production from the team’s secondary shooters was something of a fluke.
But the Warriors, committed to focusing on Tatum and Jaylen Brown, spotted the other Celtics that shooting space.
“I wouldn’t say we were surprised. I mean, when you got two great players in Jaylen and Jayson on your team, everybody is focused on those guys and you make everybody else beat you, and you live with the results,” Smart said. “We understood, it’s been like that for us that all season. Guys just really making us prove it, and we just continue to do that. The adjustment I can see them making is just a little bit more tighter on us, and trying to make our shots even tougher, not that open. But we’re basketball players, just like those guys, and we’re going to have to adjust to whatever they do, just like they’re going to have to adjust to us.”
Said White: “I mean, we’ve got Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, so they’re going to be the primary focus no matter what. I figure they’ll probably still be doing similar things. They might make some adjustments, but just read, react, and make the right read and right play, whatever they throw at us.”
