Jayson Tatum: “This was the most stagnant we’ve been in this series”

The Celtics were outplayed in Game 4 of the NBA finals, losing Friday’s matchcup by a staggering 38 points in what has otherwise been a relatively closely contested series. Boston miss their first chance to secure a record 18th title, and in the process become the most successful franchise in NBA history. As a side note, the Cs also missed out on becoming one of just two teams to be crowned champions in the first four games on two separate occasions (Golden State Warriors managed the feat in 1975 and 2018).

Tatum expected Mavs retaliation

The mood in the Boston camp after the game was one of reflection and self-criticism. Joe Mazzulla’s team remain in the driving seat, leading the series 3-1 but expect the Mavs to put up a fight, as Jayson Tatum explained.

“A year ago this time, we were down three and essentially fighting for our lives. We understand what it’s like from their point of view. They came out super aggressive. They were playing extremely fast, took more shots than we did. They were really concentrating on attacking the offensive glass, they got way more rebounds than we did. They played harder tonight. Obviously we didn’t shoot the ball well at all, and it’s something we can learn from,” Tatum told reporters. “Give them credit. They played well tonight, we didn’t. We had the right mindset and the right intentions. We wanted to come out, and play super well and win but it just didn’t go that way tonight. We’re fortunate that we’ve got another opportunity on Monday”.

Celtics heaviest defeat since January

The Celtics suffered their heaviest defeat of the season - eclipsing the 102-135 regular season loss to the Bucks back in January. It was also the third largest victory ever recorded in an NBA final series. Tatum, who finished the game with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists, remained philosophical about the defeat. “Not to harp on it too much - it happened, we can’t change what happened tonight,” he said. “We always say that you lose by two or you lose by 30... they all count the same. We do need to be better. We’re not making any excuses - we need to be better and we will be better”.

“I think this was the most stagnant we’ve been in this series, and the worst job of owning our space on the offensive end, and doing what we wanted to do instead of what they were forcing us to do. We did a great job of that the first three games and this one we didn’t,” Tatum added when asked about Celtic’s tentative decision-making.

“I think it starts on the defensive end for us,” he added. “We didn’t get many stops, so they were allowed to set their defense up and just naturally when you’re scoring at a high rate, you feel good about yourself, your energy is higher and tend to play better defense. It all start on the defensive end.

“We’ve just got to do a much better job of containing them, making it tougher and getting stops. You have to move on - from a win or a loss. Obviously we’re going to watch film and see a lot of things that we need to clean up and do better. But you can’t worry about it too much because we have another game on Monday. Like I say, without making any excuses, we’ve got to be a lot better and I believe that we will””.

On the plus side, the series now moves back to TD Garden which means that Mazzulla’s team could clinch the title in front of their own fans rather than on the road. Tatum is expected a raucous home crowd for Game 5. “I think it’s going to be as loud as it’s ever been in my seven years of being a Celtic. Excited to go back home, celebrate Fathers’ Day on Sunday and could be for a championship on Monday so it should be a lot of fun,” he ended.