Category: Basketball

Tatum ‘wanted more' early in NBA career, now credits Celtics' approach originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jayson Tatum’s talent was evident as a 19-year-old rookie, but it wasn’t until his third season with the Boston Celtics that he was able to fully unleash his superstar potential.

The third overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft averaged 30.5 minutes but only 10.5 field goal attempts per game as a rookie. Those numbers increased to 31.1 minutes and 13.1 field goal attempts in Year 2, then in Year 3, Tatum’s professional career took off.

Tatum earned his first All-Star nod in his third season, averaging 34.3 minutes and 18.6 shot attempts per game. Since then, he has been selected to the All-Star Game each year. The 27-year-old has evolved into the face of the franchise, and now, with an NBA championship under his belt, he’s on track to go down as one of the greatest Celtics to ever step on the TD Garden parquet.

In an exclusive interview with NBC Sports Boston’s Brian Scalabrine, Tatum opened up about his growth from quiet-but-confident rookie to NBA superstar. While admitting that he wanted the ball more early in his career, he acknowledged that former Celtics coach Brad Stevens may have been right to bring him along slowly.

“My career has went as well as I could have ever thought or imagined,” Tatum told Scalabrine. “Yes, when I was younger, I was a 19-year-old rookie, and I felt like I could have been doing more. Brad (Stevens), like, ‘Yo, put me in better positions, give me the ball more.’ Like, as a young player, I had that confidence in myself that I wanted more. And again, I’ve started every game of my career, I’ve played 30 minutes, I’ve been on the floor. And maybe Brad was bringing me along at the right speed, and he knew more than I did.

“So when I was younger, yeah, I wanted more. Where I’m at now, I love how everything has played out and I love where I’m at and I love the things that I’ve accomplished. And we won. We got one. So I’m not content because we want to win some more, but I think it worked out how it was supposed to.”

Tatum took a backseat to superstar Kyrie Irving for the first two years of his C’s tenure. Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris, and a young Al Horford also had important roles, preventing Tatum from fully taking over.

But over the last half-decade, Tatum and Brown have established themselves as arguably the best duo in the NBA. The tandem propelled the Celtics to one of the best seasons in franchise history en route to the 2024 NBA championship, and they’re well on their way to making another run in 2025.

The Celtics, boasting a 58-20 record with four regular-season games remaining, will visit the New York Knicks on Tuesday. Barring a shocking finish to the campaign that would require the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers to lose their remaining four games, Boston will enter the 2025 postseason with the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Watch Scalabrine’s full interview with Tatum below:

Rockets analyst makes wild Draymond Green claim after antics vs. Alperen Şengün originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

To most NBA analysts and pundits, Warriors forward Draymond Green is one of the league’s best defenders — if not the best — and can shut down any top player.

But after Green got into it with All-Star center Alperen Şengün during the Warriors’ 106-96 loss on Sunday night at Chase Center, former NBA player and current Houston Rockets color analyst Ryan Hollins had some pointed words for the Golden State forward.

“That’s ridiculous,” Hollins said on the Rockets’ Space City Home Network broadcast as Green was assessed a technical foul for shoving Sengun before Houston could inbound the ball (h/t Awful Announcing). “Look at him. The ball’s not in bounds. He’s just trying to get in Şengün’s head. He knows he can’t guard him to save his life.”

Şengün believes Green’s technical foul was the turning point in the game.

“I think that was the moment we won the game because everybody got heated up and we responded well,” Şengün told reporters. “I think they were trying to scare us to play softer. But you just play harder after that and just help my team.”

Green later picked up a Flagrant 1 foul for elbowing Şengün in the face while going up for a layup.

Green is making a strong push for a second-career NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, but Hollins clearly believes second-year Rockets wing Amen Thompson should take home the honor.

To Thompson’s credit, he shut down Steph Curry and held the two-time NBA MVP to three points on 1-of-10 shooting from the field. Curry was 0 of 3 from the field when guarded by Thompson, per NBA.com’s advanced metrics.

But according to those same advanced metrics, Şengün made 3 of 8 shots and scored seven of his 19 total points when defended by Green during Sunday’s game.

So, Hollins’ theory that Green can’t guard Şengün might have played well to Rockets fans watching the game, but the numbers show that the Warriors forward can hold his own.

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As the Knicks gear up for a playoff run, Mitchell Robinson’s role remains one of the things that could push the team’s hopes of advancing far in the right direction. 

Since returning from left ankle surgery in February, Robinson has played in just 15 games. As New York has eased the seven-footer back into the rotation, he’s put up lukewarm numbers (averaging 5.0 points and 5.8 rebounds in 16.1 minutes). The big man has also looked gassed at times as he looks to get back into basketball shape. Robinson quipped last week, “I need to be able to play like seven minutes straight,” when he was asked where he wants to be physically.

There’s been some signs of progress. Filling in for Karl-Anthony Towns as a starter last week, Robinson had season-highs of 14 points and 14 rebounds in a 105-91 win against the Philadelphia 76ers. In the last eight games, Robinson has recorded at least nine rebounds on four different occasions.

Then there’s also the quiet nights. Robinson was scoreless with two rebounds against the Los Angeles Clippers two weeks ago. He had two points and two boards in 13 minutes in Sunday night’s 112-98 win against the Phoenix Suns.

Though he’s been inconsistent, the Knicks need Robinson’s presence on the defensive end. He brings a skill set that no other Knick player can offer. With a 7-foot-4 wingspan, Robinson is a legitimate rim-protector and he’s one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA. In his limited minutes, the Knicks are defending better with him on the floor. The team is giving up 106.5 points per 100 possessions when Robinson is playing and 113.2 points when he’s sitting.

Limited available minutes

When the Knicks first traded for Towns, there were questions of if both centers would see the floor together often. So far, it’s been only an occasional option the club has gone to. Towns and Robinson have only played 41 minutes together according to NBA Stats.

But the results have been promising. Robinson and Towns have worked well together. With both centers on the floor, the Knicks are outscoring opponents by 10.7 points per 100 possessions.

If Robinson and Towns don’t play together, Robinson’s minutes will be cut. Towns plays around 35 minutes a night, which leaves very little time for Robinson to see the floor. The big man combo did see some time together against Phoenix. Finding time for Robinson to play will be a challenge for head coach Tom Thibodeau, but it’s a good problem to have. At the moment, New York has more depth on the roster than all season.

Quietly, Robinson has made a significant impact in the playoffs for the Knicks. In 2023, he dominated the offensive glass, pulverizing Cleveland Cavaliers big men Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in New York’s first round series win. As a backup in 2024, Robinson defended 76ers star Joel Embiid well in limited minutes. Before exiting the postseason early due to injury in 2024, the Knicks outscored opponents by 13.2 points per 100 possessions in Robinson’s 115 minutes.

With just four games left in the regular season, time is running out for Robinson to get into perfect shape. But just having his rim-protecting presence on the floor at certain moments should be a boon to the Knicks' defense in the postseason.

As NBA scrambled to catch up, Celtics put faith in championship core originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

While many of the Celtics’ primary rivals spent the past year making roster tweaks seemingly designed to counteract what the defending champions do best, Boston’s president of basketball operations Brad Stevens elected to do something even bolder in the modern NBA: He decided to simply run it back with his championship core.

As the Celtics prep for their next postseason adventure, their roster looks almost identical to a season ago. Svi Mykhailiuk, Oshae Brissett, and Jaden Springer have departed; Baylor Scheierman and Torrey Craig are the new faces. In a league that’s constantly changing, the Celtics were content to keep their top nine intact and challenge everyone else to catch up.

What gave Stevens the confidence to lean into this core?

“At the end of the day, you have to assess your team at the end of every year,” said Stevens. “And there are all kinds of factors, right? There are factors — where you are in the aprons, now there are factors, certainly, of where you are in repeater taxes, and all of those things that come into play later on.

“But if you can look at your team and you’re able to bring back a team that is highly successful, with as elite of character, on and off the court as I’ve been around, [the decision to stay intact is a] no brainer.”

Celtics front office staffers have repeatedly marveled at Boston’s blend of not only elite basketball talent, but elite off-the-court character. Chemistry is off the charts and players embrace each other’s successes. The camaraderie of this group has kept everyone sane over the past 200 days, particularly when its loftiest goals can’t be achieved for another two months.

The Celtics will finish the season slightly below last year’s 64-win total. A year after finishing 14 games clear of its closest rival, Boston will almost certainly be the No. 2 seed looking up at the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics’ scoring differential isn’t as glitzy as a season ago when it posted a top-five number all time, and the Oklahoma City Thunder might just bump Boston from that group with a historic mark of their own this season.

Still, Jaylen Brown has repeatedly suggested that these Celtics are better than a year ago when they steamrolled their competition en route to Banner 18. Does Stevens believe this year’s team is better, too?

“I think the way we played at our best is [better] and that’s not a surprise because we’re all back, right?” said Stevens. “We haven’t had a full complement of guys for very many games this year … but I believe in where we can go and I think we can consistently get there fast. I do think the competition is better, all around the league, East and West. And, ultimately, we’re going to have to play really well to do what we did last year.”

Undeniably, it feels like Boston’s bench has improved. Payton Pritchard should be the Sixth Man of the Year after thriving in an elevated role. Luke Kornet, who rushed to re-sign with Boston on what now feels like a criminally low minimum-salary contract, has been one of the most efficient big men in the entire league. Sam Hauser, when not hindered by back woes, continues to be a 3-point shooting menace. Al Horford refuses to look like a player that will turn 39 during the NBA postseason.

Boston’s preferred starting five of Brown, Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday has played only 23 games together. More concerning: That group has a minus-0.4 net rating in 343 minutes together — a far cry from the plus-11 net rating that group carried in 623 regular-season minutes together last season.

Stevens and the Celtics seem to believe that group can find its mojo quickly when the lights get bright.

Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

The Celtics are further emboldened by the way they’ve thrived whenever they are shorthanded. Boston has leaned heavy into different play styles, like utilizing multiple double-big lineups that have produced some of the team’s best basketball. The Celtics seemingly have ways to counteract whatever their opposition does best.

The question is whether those rivals did enough to take away Boston’s strengths. Teams scrambled to add wing defenders that could help defend the likes of Tatum and Brown. The Knicks kicked off last summer with the big-swing addition of Mikal Bridges; the Cavaliers added De’Andre Hunter at the trade deadline.

Stevens believes this isn’t unusual, and that teams routinely make changes based on the strengths of the NBA’s most successful squads.

“I don’t think this is specific to us. I don’t think we should make that bigger than what it is,” said Stevens. “Every team is always watching the last four teams play in late May and into June, and they’re deciding how they want to build their roster to combat those teams. I mean, that’s every year.

“And so last year was probably no exception than the other years that we’ve had success, other than we were the last one standing. So we’re used to that. We’re used to the standpoint of, everybody in this very competitive league is trying to get better all the time. And you do pay attention to who the last teams are standing to try to improve your own team.

“You’re also doing it from our standpoint with who you think the up-and-coming teams are. Who are some of the younger guys that look like they’re going to mesh and mold into those championship teams? As you think, not only the next couple of years, but down the line.”

But it’s telling that the Celtics didn’t need to make any tweaks of their own. The Celtics were downright dominant in their postseason run and they weren’t going to mess with a successful formula.

The Celtics are banking that another year of chemistry and cohesion will again differentiate this team on a big stage. The rest of the league may be better, but Boston feels like it is, too.

Four teams still in mix to play Celtics in first round of playoffs originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics are just about locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, which has been the case for quite a while.

The same can’t be said for which opponent the Celtics will face in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs. The race for the No. 7 seed is still very much up in the air.

There are four teams — the Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat — still in the mix, although the Magic and Hawks remain the favorites.

The Celtics’ first-round opponent will be the winner of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game in the play-in tournament, which is scheduled for Tuesday, April 15. This means the Celtics will have about four or five days to prepare for their first-round series, which is expected to begin either Saturday, April 19 or Sunday, April 20.

Here’s an updated look at the standings and No. 7 seed probabilities as of Monday morning (probabilities via Basketball Reference:

The Magic and Hawks play each other twice more — Tuesday in Orlando and Sunday in Atlanta. Those two games could end up deciding which team hosts the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in tournament game.

The Magic also have to play the Celtics on Wednesday and the Indiana Pacers on Friday, while the Hawks also play the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday and Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

The Bulls are only one game behind the Hawks for the No. 8 seed. They’ve won three games in a row and seven of their last 10. The Bulls have four games left — Tuesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Wednesday against the Heat, Friday against the Wizards and Sunday against the Sixers.

It looked like the Heat had dropped out of the No. 7 seed race in mid-March after losing 10 straight games. But a five-game win streak at the end of the month propelled Miami back into the mix. The Heat are still long shots to get into the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in game, but it’s not an impossible task.

Miami has four games remaining — Monday against the Sixers, Wednesday against the Bulls, Friday against the Pelicans and Sunday against the Wizards.

The ideal first-round opponent for the Celtics likely would be the Magic. Orlando is a strong defensive team, but its offense ranks among the worst in the league. The Magic are also dealing with injuries and don’t have a ton of playoff experience.

Overall, the Celtics shouldn’t have too much trouble with any potential Round 1 opponent. The real challenge doesn’t start until the conference semifinals.

Alperen Şengün got away with ‘baby flop' on Draymond flagrant, Lou Williams says originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Former NBA guard Lou Williams isn’t a fan of the flagrant foul assessed to Draymond Green for a collision with All-Star center Alperen Şengün during the Warriors’ 106-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday night at Chase Center.

“That one’s tricky,” Williams told Michelle Beadle and fellow former NBA player Chandler Parsons on FanDuel’s “Run It Back” on Monday. “I wouldn’t give this one too much. This looks like a routine basketball play to me. Now, everything else is typical Draymond, getting on the guy’s skin and trying to get him revved up. But this one right here looks like a basketball play to me.”

Williams, who played 17 NBA seasons with six teams, used a different F-word to describe the play: Flop.

“But referees are human,” Williams continued. “They look at who it is, what type of play it is and your reputation comes into play, and they make calls based on it. I don’t know if he’s seeking out Şengün right here. I really don’t. And it looks like it’s barely even any contact as well. Like, it looks like a somewhat of a little baby flop right there, but yeah, I’m not rolling. I’m not rolling on this one, but again, it’s Draymond Green, so everything that he does is going to be considered with a grain of salt, and referees are going to make this call based on who it is and what it is. So for that I’m not rolling.”

Parsons, who played nine NBA seasons with four teams, agreed with Williams’ assessment of the play, believing there’s nothing Green could have done differently.

“What else do you want him to do?” Parsons said. “That looks like a natural movement that he’s going to. I don’t think this is anything malicious. I don’t think this is dirty. Again, the things he did later were a little obnoxious, but like this is just a normal basketball play. It was unfortunate that he caught an [elbow], but this the risk that you take when you go vertical and you got an aggressive dude coming at you, but I think this is bad. I think this is a natural basketball play.”

Williams doubled down on his assessment of a flop after watching the replay multiple times.

“Honestly, now that I’m watching it over and over and over, this is a flop more than anything to me,” Williams said.

Green also wasn’t sure what the referees expected him to do on that play.

“I mean, the Flagrant call, I don’t know what to do,” Green told reporters after the game. “Go duck? Don’t go up for the layup?”

As Parsons noted, Green picked up a technical foul before halftime for shoving Şengün. The Warriors forward then barked in Şengün’s direction.

Based on Green’s history and reputation, it’s unlikely that the NBA rescinds the flagrant foul.

But two former NBA players believe the four-time NBA champion did nothing wrong, for what it’s worth.

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How Jaylen can become All-NBA eligible over Celtics' final four games originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics are essentially locked into the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed entering the final week of the season.

But there’s one interesting storyline worth monitoring over the final four games of the season.

Jaylen Brown, who’s been dealing with a nagging right knee injury and admitted he was “in some pain” during the Celtics’ win over the Miami Heat last Wednesday, has played in 62 games this season as of Monday.

If Brown wants to be eligible to earn All-NBA honors and be nominated for end-of-season awards like Defensive Player of the Year, he needs to meet the following criteria:

• 65 games played
• At least 20 minutes played in at least 65 games
  • Two “near misses” allowed (games with at least 15 minutes played)

Brown insisted last week that the games-played threshold has zero impact on his decision to play or not play as he manages his knee injury. But the fact that he’s suited up in each of the last three games suggests he’ll try to reach the 65-game mark down the stretch.

Based on that criteria above, Brown can become All-NBA eligible by playing in three of Boston’s final four games. He only needs to play 20 minutes in each of those games, however, and because he’s played 20 minutes or more in every game to date this season, he still has both of his “near misses,” meaning he can be limited to 15 minutes in two of the Celtics’ final four games.

Here’s a look at Boston’s remaining schedule:

• Tuesday, April 8: at New York Knicks
• Wednesday, April 9: at Orlando Magic
• Friday, April 11: vs. Charlotte Hornets
• Sunday, April 13: vs. Hornets

If the C’s want to manage Brown’s minutes while getting him to 65 games, a logical plan would be playing him against the Knicks, resting him on the second night of a back-to-back against the Magic, and then limiting him to as close to 15 minutes as possible in each of Boston’s final two games against the Hornets.

Some Celtics fans may want to just see Brown rest down the stretch to make sure his knee gets right for the playoffs, especially since there’s no guarantee he even makes an All-NBA squad. But Brown believes there’s value in learning to play through the pain, which he suggested won’t be going away any time soon.

“Pain is definitely a physical thing, but it also is a mental thing,” Brown said last week. “So, (head coach) Joe (Mazzulla) has allowed me, even though my team visibly can see maybe I’m in a bit of pain, they trust me to go out there and I can control my body and still be able to make plays and mentally, be able to push through it.

“I think that’s going to be something I’m gonna have to have in my back pocket.”

The Celtics also will have about a week off between their season finale and the start of the first round, as the NBA play-in tournament runs from April 15-18. So, don’t be surprised if you continue to see Brown in action as the regular season wraps up.