Chris Gasper on a Tatum & Brown 1-1A ensemble
The Boston Celtics have a 2-0 series lead over the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals and it has been Jaylen Brown carrying the load for the Celtics in the series so far. Chris Gasper of The Boston Globe joins Felger and Mazz on Friday and discussed whether Jayson Tatum can handle the 1-1A situation with Brown in the playoffs.
Can Jayson Tatum handle the 1-1A with Jaylen Brown?
Felger: Can Tatum handle being 1 & 1A – part of an ensemble that thing? Can he handle it?
Chris Gasper: I think he can handle it. I think he might not love it, but I think he can handle it. I think that he is thoughtful enough, soft spoken enough, and the thing is, is he getting all the accolades he wants in terms of MVP? No. But he’s still All-NBA, he has all the commercials and everything and ultimately at the end of the day, he wants to win. And I think he realizes that winning will benefit him more than anything else in his career and some of the other things he wants will come along with winning. I mean, to his credit, I don’t feel like he got in the way last night. He realized whose night it was. And he’s gotten better and better about that. I think over the years he really has. Is it perfect? No, it’s not perfect all the time. But I don’t feel like he’s one of these guys that consistently comes in like another guy that used to play here, who wasn’t nearly as talented as Tatum, who would come in and say “ohh I don’t care that it’s your night. It’s also gonna be my night too.” I don’t feel like he does that. So he might not love it, but I think he can live with it, especially if it’s what ultimately going to get them to the championship. And frankly, I think it’s benefited him this postseason because yeah, there’s been some criticism of Tatum, probably more national than local, except for those of us on this show, but at the end of the day the fact the team is winning and is 10-2 in 12 games and looks like they’re going to get to the finals, there’d be even more criticism of his play in the games he hasn’t played well if he didn’t have the cast around him and they were losing some of these games.
Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!
Celtics take 2-0 lead over Pacers after Jaylen Brown masterclass
On Thursday night at the Garden the Boston Celtics hosted the Indiana Pacers looking to take a 2-0 series lead after a miraculous rabbit out of the hat win in game 1. The Celtics got late game heroics from Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday and Jayson Tatum to come back from the brink of defeat and steal one from Indiana. The questions heading into game 2 would mostly all be on how Indiana would react to letting one get away in game 1.
First Quarter:
Indiana would start off better in game 2 after going down 12-0 early in game 1 they scored the first basket of the night and looked steady early on. A small thing to look for tonight was could a slighted Jaylen Brown who was left off the All-NBA and All-NBA defensive teams be a little extra motivated to show he was deserving of those honors. I don’t think Jaylen needs any more motivation but any possible edge in the playoffs can’t hurt.
Boston would keep it’s same rotations from game 1 as Pritchard and Kornet were the first two players off the bench for the Celtics. Indiana would continue to hit their midrange jumpers early and build an 18-17 lead with 5:11 to go in the first.
Indiana would continue to play well but couldn’t separate themselves as Payton Pritchard would hit a 3 pointer to cut into the Pacers lead with 3:39 left in the first to make it a 23-20 game. The Pacers lights out shooting from midrange would continue as they were 9-14 from the field to start the game. Boston would struggle to hold onto the ball the final 3 minutes of the quarter but Indiana would struggle to capitalize only leading by two 27-25 at the end of the first quarter.
