People are way too quick to defend Tatum

On Wednesday's Felger & Mazz program, the guys wonder why people are so quick to defend Jayson Tatum.

Parts of conversation abbreviated for clarity.

Felger: He's your best player. He’s got an all-time low field goal percentage for an NBA finalist, and it's like they're not supposed to question and talk about it. But, that stuff comes with the territory. 

The defense mechanism of Mazzulla and everybody is just like, give me a break. 

Mazz: Yeah. I don't think it is Tatum's best. 

Felger: Of course, it's not. And you know, Mazzulla is pretty close to Tatum. I don't expect him to criticize Tatum. That would put Mazzulla in a tough spot.  

Are we saying that this isn’t the best version of Tatum? I mean, how is Joe supposed to answer that? He's supposed to fudge that answer. But, whatever, typical Mazzulla with that soccer comparison. 

Mazz: Yeah, I guess we don't appreciate greatness in the United States then. 

Felger: It's one thing to defend your players but don’t turn around and attack people for criticizing. All of this comes with the territory. It’s generic scrutiny of your best player on the team and one of the best players in the league.  

The league is built around the best individual players. That's just the NBA, and that's what Tatum's getting. I don't think Tatum has been treated unfairly. Not one bit. I do not think he's been over-scrutinized at all. I think he's getting the standard superstar scrutiny that comes with the territory. 

Let’s face it, he gets things easy the way that most of the Celtics media handles things. Like, good God, what a bunch of martyrs!  

Murray (Sarcastically): Well, maybe this needs to change. We need to sit down and get to know these athletes as people. 

Felger: What a persecution complex that these people have, my God. 

Mazz: And Tatum's taken it better than anybody. 

Felger: Yeah, I agree. Tatum hasn't been snippy or anything like that. Excellent point, Mazz. Tatum is taking all of this in stride.  

It's the rest of you causing all this drama. My God. What’s the matter with you? 

Ryan Beaton is a producer for 985thesportshub.com. You can follow Ryan at @ry_beaton on Twitter.

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!

The Boston Celtics held off a late rally by the Dallas Mavericks in the fourth quarter, to win Game 2 of the 2024 NBA Finals on Sunday night at TD Garden by a 105-98 final.

Boston led by as many as 14 points in the closing minutes, before Dallas made it a two-possession game with a late run. Celtics point guard Derrick White made a timely blocked shot to kill the run for good, and effectively put the game away.

Jrue Holiday led the Celtics in scoring with 26 points, shooting 11-for-14 from the field (78.6%). Jayson Tatum struggled again shooting the ball on offense (6-for-22, 27.3%), but finished with 12 assists and nine rebounds, just one board shy of a triple-double.

The Mavericks handily out-shot the Celtics in the first quarter, but escaped with only a three-point lead at 28-25. Dallas shot 52.4% as a team, compared to 36.8% for Boston, including 1-for-9 from three-point range.

Jaylen Brown did, however, add another highlight-reel slam dunk to his finals resume.

The shots started to fall more in the second quarter, as the C's shot 12-for-20 (60%) as a team. Point guard Jrue Holiday continued his hot shooting, ending up with 17 first-half points on 7-of-9 (77.8%) from the field.

In the third quarter, the Celtics started to pull away. At one point, they went on a 25-11 run to go up by 13 points ad 80-67. Tatum scored eight points and continued his strong passing night to get up to 10 assists.

Dallas ripped off a 7-0 run to cut the deficit back down to six with the final seconds ticking away in the third, but that's when Celtics guard Payton Pritchard woke up the whole arena. Pritchard heaved it from nearly half-court and made the Hail Mary shot, putting the C's back up by nine entering the fourth quarter at 83-74, and drawing the loudest pop of the series so far.

The Celtics pulled back away to lead by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter, after a White steal set up a Holiday three-pointer, then White drained a triple of his own to make it 103-89 Celtics.

However, the Mavericks wouldn't go away quietly. They rattled off a 9-0 run to make it 103-98 C's with just 1:15 left in regulation, then had the ball with a chance to cut further into the deficit.

But then, White delivered a clutch blocked shot and Holiday pulled down the rebound, and Brown took it the other way to lay it in and put the Celtics back up seven with 30 seconds left. That's how the score would hold, as the Celtics take their 2-0 lead to Dallas.

Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Mavericks takes place Wednesday night at American Airlines Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.

Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.