Jayson Tatum knows the reason the Celtics have been disappointing.
The Boston Celtics were expected to be dominant in these NBA playoffs. However, this second-round series has shown that the Celtics are not infallible.
The New York Knicks shocked the Celtics by winning two games in the TD Garden. Despite being down by 20 points in both games, the Knicks pressured the Celtics to squander their lead.
Jayson Tatum’s performance has garnered a lot of criticism recently. The performance in Game 2 was so poor that Chris Broussard said Tatum was making a mistake Michael Jordan refused to in his career.
Well, Jayson Tatum had his say on who was to blame for the Celtics’ loss against the Knicks. And he wants a lot of those issues to be fixed soon.
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Jayson Tatum spoke after Game 2 of the Boston Celtics-New York Knicks series. When asked about the circumstances that led to this situation, Tatum was honest.
He blamed himself for the way the Celtics had floundered, admitting that he had played very poorly. Tatum vowed to be better in the rest of the series.
“I take full ownership for the way that I’ve played in this series. Can’t sugar coat anything. I need to be better. And I expect to be a lot better.”
Tatum hasn’t been good in the last two games, averaging 18.0 points, 15.0 rebounds, and 5.5 assists, on 27/25/79 splits against the Knicks in the playoffs.
Read More: What Jayson Tatum did in Boston Celtics loss to New York Knicks was ‘extremely poor’, claims ESPN expert
Heading into Game 3 in Madison Square Garden, the Boston Celtics are under a lot of pressure. If they lose, they will be down 0-3, making a comeback even more unlikely.
Not everyone has given up hope yet. In fact, Shaquille O’Neal believes the Knicks are just as much at risk of losing this series as the Celtics.
But there is no denying that the Celtics are up against it in this series. And a loss could be catastrophic for the franchise.
Brian Windhorst believes the Celtics could dismantle their current roster if they fail to win a championship. So the stakes are very high for them.
