Jayson Tatum: “We all expect to play better in Game 2″

The Boston Celtics go into Tuesday’s Eastern Conference semi-final trailing 1-0 to the Bucks. It ended 101-89 at TD Garden on Sunday with Giannis Antetokounmpo in inspirational form, registering his his second career postseason triple-double - 24 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists as the defending NBA champions gained home-court advantage in the series. The Celtics, were 56-46 behind at the break and outscored by the Bucks when play resumed.

Jayson Tatum ended the night with 21 points, six rebounds and six steals. He shot 6-of-18 from the field and 4-of-9 in three-pointers. Jaylen Brown meanwhile had 12 points, but the two Boston stars combined to shoot 10 for 31 during the game. Al Horford added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who pinged 50 3-pointers, making 18, and shot 33% from the floor as a team. But Boston were powerless against Antetokounmpo, who capped his personal display with a alley-oop off the backboard to himself

The C’s will be trying to bounce back on Tuesday but Jayson Tatum says the whole team has to improve - and brush up on their shooting. “I think they just kind of sped us up. And we’ve gotta do a better job of doing what we want to do and not let them dictate that throughout the game,” he said postgame. “More often than not, we need to be making the right reads, we got some good looks but we didn’t shoot the buzzer as well as we wanted. We’ve just gotta watch the film and adjust the game too. We’ve just gotta be ready, be ready to come back, play better, play tougher, come back and a get a win - that’s how I think we’re going to respond”.

When asked about his reaction when Antetokounmpo teed up his backboard dunk, Tatum replied, “The answer to that is he made a hell of a play. And we’ve just gotta be more solid. Stay inbetween the guys and the basket - and don’t give them a wide open lane and things like that”.

Wayward shooting

Boston shot around 60 percent from the field but Tatum explained why Celtic didn’t base more of their plays from the inside. “After the game you can look at the numbers and things like that but throughout the course of the game, it’s always been about making the right play, find open person and get the best shot available. You could say attack the basket more, which we probably should but I thought we got a lot of drive-and-kick 3s, penetrating to find an open person. You don;t want to think about numbers too much, I think just always try to make the right play - whatever that play might be.

“I don’t think we felt discouraged,” he continued. “It’s just about making the right play. You get into the paint, play off two feet, shot fake, draw a foul or, when they convert, find an open man. Each player is different, each possession is different. You’ve just gotta read it and take what they give you. I play off instincts, basketball is a lot about reaction and everything happens in a split-second so I have that much time to think about that, it happens so fast. The right play is different is different guys, everybody knows that, y’know, play to your strengths - react to the defence, react to what they’re doing throughout the course of the game”.

Tatum is optimistic about Celtics’ chances of turning the series around as he concluded, “I think there is a lot we can take away from the first game. The series is not won or lost, after just one game - especially not Game 1. But give them credit, they were the better team, they played better than we did and they deserved to win. Watch film, get your body right and get ready for Game 2 - and play better, it’s as simple as that”.