Get some rest: Boston Celtics’ Brad Stevens message to Jayson Tatum

 

It is never easy to be on the wrong side of the result for any player in the big finals. Jayson Tatum had to face heartbreak when Boston Celtics lost the NBA Finals against Golden State Warriors by 103-90 in Game 6 to lose the series by 4-2.

Boston Celtics’ president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has advised Tatum to go on a vacation and take some rest. Tatum didn’t have the best of the playoffs for Boston Celtics and he will look to bounce back stronger in the next season.

Tatum finished with the most turnovers in the postseason any player has had in the NBA history in a single playoffs. Furthermore, he shot 50% from the field on one occasion whereas he shot less than 40% from the field on four occasions in the finals against the Dubs.

“I just told him to go on vacation,” Stevens said in a videoconference to reporters. “Go get some rest.”

“This guy gave us everything he had. When you look at the minutes, when you look at the games played … I’ve said this many times: He’s a superstar that doesn’t want to sit. He wants to play, he wants to play all the time. I thought that in the Finals, obviously, I think he would be the first to say that he would like to have some of those moments back, but I thought there were other contributing factors to how he played.”

Jayson Tatum might not have brought his best game to the NBA Finals but Brad Stevens admitted that they won’t have gone this far in the tournament had the 24-year-old and Jaylen Brown not performed so well throughout the playoffs. Stevens picked Tatum’s 46-point performance against Milwaukee Bucks while playing away as the best individual performance he has seen.

“The way I try to look at it is, obviously, we’re all subjective in every moment and react emotionally, but when you start looking at it objectively and more so historically, what Jayson and Jaylen have done in the playoffs, historically at their ages, is rarified air,” Stevens said. “I think we’re very cognizant of the fact that even though Jayson would admittedly not have played his best series, there’s no chance we’re there without him and without all of his great play all the way through.

“I think back to all of the times … Game 6 in Milwaukee was one of the best games I’ve seen an individual play in my time, certainly in person and with the Celtics. Without that performance, we would have had this discussion a month and a half ago.”

Tatum has definitely shown all the skills and he will look to bounce back even stronger in the next season.