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Felger & Mazz

No shame in Tatum not being elite player

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On Monday’s Felger & Mazz program, the guys wonder if Jayson Tatum criticism is warranted.

Tatum Elite?

Parts of conversation abbreviated for clarity.

Felger: All that I care about—as a fan of a team—is that the player does what it takes for the team to win the game. That’s what I care about as a fan. If I were a Celtics fan, that’s all I would care about.  

I would not get my back up trying to prove Tatum’s better or worse than someone else, or that he’s clutch or not. I wouldn’t care about any of that. The individual thing. 

I care about my team winning, and I think Tatum is playing winning basketball and contributing to his team winning. 

Mazz: As do I. 

Felger: So, I’d be pleased with it. But you could look at it and say that his poor shooting is a sign of him once again shrinking in the moment. I’m not looking at it that way. But have at it… (617)779-0985. 

Is he good enough to be that guy? If the team was a little less and they needed him to do what Luka Doncic or some other guys do. Could he do it?  

Mazz: Not right now.  

Felger: OK. So, is that a knock, I mean? I don’t think it is. Maybe he’s not quite good enough. Like he’s not the top one or two players in the league. He’s in that next little rung, which will need some help. There’s no shame in that.  

Giannis is in that rung. I mean, many brilliant Hall of Fame ball players are in that rung. So, you could say he’s not quite good enough to be that guy or he lacks again sort of the aggressiveness or some of those intangibles we talk about to be that guy. The top-of-the-mountain guy. But he’s damn good.  

Again, if I were a fan of a team, I wouldn’t care. I would say call him the second-best player, call him the fourth-best. I don’t care. I’d be happy with the championship.  

And he’s doing what it takes and contributing what it takes for the team to win a championship. That’s what I would care about. 

Segment Audio

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!

James Stewart is the Executive Producer of the Felger and Massarotti radio program. Better known as Jimmy Stewart, because it’s a Wonderful Life, Jimmy has been enhancing talent in the media since 2000 when his radio career began at WEEI. During his producing career, he has been part of 8 NAB Marconi Radio Award-winning teams. He is one of only two active producers to have produced for all five major sports teams in New England. He hosts the Stick to Wrestling podcast and is the self-proclaimed Wrestling Tribal Chief of the Boston Territory. James writes about all New England sports from Patriots football to Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.

Celtics 107-89 win over the Mavericks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals led by Porzingis, Brown

Finally the NBA Finals have started, on Thursday night at the Garden the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks faced off in game 1 of the NBA Finals. Boston heads into game 1 with a dominating 12-2 record in the postseason as the #1 seed in the entire NBA. While Dallas the #5 seed in the Western Conference has surprised some fans by getting this far but has looked very impressive doing so. Will Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving be able to keep their magic going against the high powered Celtics roster and make a series out of the Finals? The big news coming out of pregame was that Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis would not be on a minutes restriction after missing the last few weeks with a calf strain, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla wouldn’t comment on whether he was going to start or not but this was good news for Celtics fans heading into the start of the series.

First Quarter:

Celtics fans would learn 30 minutes before tip off that Kristaps Porzingis would come off the bench in game 1 and Al Horford would stay in the starting lineup as he was in Porzingis’ absence. The Celtics would win the tip and get a big dunk from Al Horford to start the NBA Finals. Luka Doncic would hit his first jumper of the night to tie the game at 5 with 10:45 to go in the first quarter. The Mavericks would start the game 2-2 from the field while Boston struggled a little early shooting 2-7 to start the game after a few offensive rebounds.

Kristaps Porzingis would make his NBA Finals debut 5 minutes into the game coming in for Al Horford with Dallas leading 13-12. Derrick White would make his impact early hitting back to back 3’s to give Boston a 20-15 lead with 5:55 to go in the first. Porzingis would get his first points off the night off a pair of free throws, drawing a foul on Luka Doncic giving Boston a 22-15 lead.

Porzingis would really make his presence known after hitting back to back buckets to give Boston their first double digit lead of the game 28-18 with 2:20 to go in the quarter. Jayson Tatum who was quiet for most of the first quarter would hit a 3 pointer with 1:37 to go to give Boston a 31-20 lead. Boston would continue to take advantage of their mismatches offensively hitting multiple 3’s and getting huge blocks from Porzingis to end the quarter leading 37-20 at the end of one. Boston went on a 23-5 run to end the quarter led by Porzingis on both ends.

  • Alex Barth on X (formerly Twitter): "END 1Celtics 37Mavericks 20PORZINGIS: 11 points, 4/5 FG, 3 rebounds, 3 blocksWHITE: 6 points, 2/4 3PTBROWN: 4 points, 2 stealsDONCIC: 7 points, 3/7 FG, 3 rebounds / X"

    END 1Celtics 37Mavericks 20PORZINGIS: 11 points, 4/5 FG, 3 rebounds, 3 blocksWHITE: 6 points, 2/4 3PTBROWN: 4 points, 2 stealsDONCIC: 7 points, 3/7 FG, 3 rebounds

    Second Quarter:

    Boston entered the second quarter leading by 17 with Tatum and Brown only scoring 7 points in the first quarter a great sign for the Celtics. Boston would stay hot from deep with Sam Hauser hitting his second 3-pointer of the night to extend Boston’s lead to 42-24 with 10:19 to go in the half. Porzingis would continue to be all over the place in game one hitting back to back jumpers to give him 15 points to go along with 3 rebounds and two blocks with 6:29 to go in the half and extending the Celtics lead to 48-27.

    Dallas would try and slow the game down halfway through the second to try and cut into Boston’s lead but Boston’s defense was ready for the challenge early in this one. Jaylen Brown would hit a 3-pointer then get a breakaway dunk off a steal to give Boston a 53-29 lead with 5:01 to go in the half and it was all Celtics in the first half. Dallas would chip away a little at the Boston lead at the end of the quarter but did they already dig themselves too big of a hole? Dallas would cut Boston’s lead to 63-42 at the half after a Doncic 3 pointer late in the quarter. 

  • Alex Barth on X (formerly Twitter): "HALFTIMECeltics 63Mavericks 42PORZINGIS: 18 points, 7/9 FG, 2/3 3PT, 3 reb, 2 blocksBROWN: 13 points, 5/7 FG, 3 reb, 3 stealsTATUM: 8 points, 3/8 FG, 6 reb, 3 astDONCIC: 17 points, 7/14 FGIRVING: 6 points, 3/9 FG / X"

    HALFTIMECeltics 63Mavericks 42PORZINGIS: 18 points, 7/9 FG, 2/3 3PT, 3 reb, 2 blocksBROWN: 13 points, 5/7 FG, 3 reb, 3 stealsTATUM: 8 points, 3/8 FG, 6 reb, 3 astDONCIC: 17 points, 7/14 FGIRVING: 6 points, 3/9 FG

    Third Quarter:

    Dallas would continue to try and chip away at the Boston lead early in the third quarter getting it to 18 10:06 left in the quarter. Boston would come out of the half a little slow on both ends letting Dallas back into the game early with a couple bad turnovers and missed defensive assignments. The Mavericks would force Joe Mazzulla to call a timeout with 7:43 left in the quarter after PJ Washington hit a jumper to cut Boston’s lead to 68-52. Jayson Tatum’s NBA Finals turnover issues reared their ugly head again in the third quarter as he was up to six and a big reason why Dallas was chipping away at the lead. 

    Brian Robb on X (formerly Twitter): "Mavs on a 35-14 run over last 12 minutes. / X"

    Mavs on a 35-14 run over last 12 minutes.

    Luka Doncic would start to catch fire in the third quarter as he was up to 24 points after a tough jumper to make Boston’s lead 72-59 with 5:33 to go in the third. Doncic would stay hot hitting another 3 pointer to make it a single digit lead for Boston for the first time since the first quarter. Boston would start to settle down a little as the quarter went on a Jayson Tatum offensive rebound led to an easy Porzingis dunk then Jaylen Brown would get fouled after a Celtics defensive stop to slow down Dallas’ momentum. Boston would go back up 77-64 with 2:44 to go in the third after a pair of Jaylen free throws. Tatum who was making his impact felt everywhere but the offensive end would hit a 3 pointer to cap off a Celtics 8-0 run to extend the lead back up to 16, 80-64 with 1:51 to go in the quarter. 

    Jaylen Brown would continue his great performance in game 1 hitting back to back massive buckets after a block at the rim on the other end to cap off a 14-0 Celtics run. Boston looked lost for most of the quarter but Brown, Porzingis, Horford and Tatum showed up huge late in the third to get the Celtics headed back in the right direction. Boston would head to the 4th leading by 20 points again 86-66 looking to take a decisive 1-0 series lead. 

  • BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JUNE 06: Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics reacts as he dunks the ball against Maxi Kleber #42 of the Dallas Mavericks during the second quarter in Game One of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 06, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

    BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 06: Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics reacts as he dunks the ball against Maxi Kleber #42 of the Dallas Mavericks during the second quarter in Game One of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 06, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

    Fourth Quarter:

    Jaylen would continue to stay hot early in the fourth hitting the first basket of the quarter trying to leave no doubt in the Celtics lead. The teams would trade blows early in the fourth but with Boston leading by 20 to start the quarter Dallas would need to do a lot more than just trade baskets with Boston. Derrick White would hit a layup with 8:34 to go in the game to extend Boston’s lead back up to 21. Dallas’ defense wasn’t getting enough stops to cut into Boston’s lead, the teams would continue to trade baskets throughout the quarter with an Al Horford layup after a Tatum offensive rebound would put Boston up 96-75 with 6:09 to go. 

    Jrue Holiday one of the big offseason acquisitions by Celtics GM Brad Stevens was making his impact felt on both ends all night, as he’d hit a 3 pointer to make it 99-75 with 5:28 to go in the game and Boston getting closer to that ever important 1-0 series lead. Boston wouldn’t let up as the quarter went on leading by 20 for most of the 4th, Jason Kidd would basically wave the white flag with 5 minutes to go taking Irving and Doncic out of the game as the Mavericks couldn’t get any closer. Boston would continue to do everything right in the fourth going up 105-84 with 1:49 to go coasting to a 1-0 series lead with game 2 set for Sunday night at the Garden. The Celtics would go on to win by 107-89 dominating for large stretches of the game and making it look easy at times, if Dallas is going to rebound in game 2 their defense is going to need to make massive adjustments.  

    The Sporting News on X (formerly Twitter): "Kristaps Porzingis played for the first time in 38 days.🍀 21 minutes🍀 20 points🍀 6 rebounds🍀 3 blocks pic.twitter.com/Sy2gKOTKWE / X"

    Kristaps Porzingis played for the first time in 38 days.🍀 21 minutes🍀 20 points🍀 6 rebounds🍀 3 blocks pic.twitter.com/Sy2gKOTKWE

    Scaz’s takeaways 

    • Celtics dominate with a very average Tatum offensive game
    • Porzingis looked healthy and ready to go a great sign for the Celtics
    • Jaylen Brown was great on both ends of the floor
    • Dallas’ defense needs to make massive adjustments for game 2 

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