“The Flop Mamba” Jayson Tatum sets embarrassing Finals record never seen in NBA history
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Jayson Tatum
The 2022 NBA Finals are over with Boston Celtics Megastar Jayson Tatum having some records registered against his name which he may want to wipe out from his memory. His poor performance may earn him a name – flop Mamba, as he follows legendary Kobe Bryant.
Golden State Warriors won their 4th NBA Title keeping an impressive 50% win record in the last 8 seasons. Their 4th title, as everyone on the team explained, was the most valued one following 2 years’ absence from the grand stage. They did play superbly in the games, but Boston Celtics certainly had their fair share of contributions to the Warriors’ success. Celtics played without a specialized point guard and it hurt them in terms of ball control. They regularly had over 15 turnovers against the experienced Warriors team and got punished for the same. 24-years old Jayson Tatum, unfortunately, leads the team in an unwanted record, while leading the league in playoffs for turnovers.
Boston Celtics had 236 turnovers in 24 playoff games played, while as per stats Jayson Tatum is accountable for nearly 43% of them. Though the team survived in the conference games, Golden State Warriors didn’t let this mistake go in vain and capitalized on it. Jayson’s failure may haunt him for coming seasons, but he needs to work on the same to have better chances in the games.
Jayson Tatum “turning” the games in the wrong directions
The Boston Celtics team is built around Jayson Tatum and he is one of the NBA’s most promising young guys around. He is even seen as one of those players who can carry the league into the future. Tatum said he idolizes Lakers Legend Kobe Bryant and is inspired by his “Black Mamba” mentality. He even had some private practice sessions with 5-time NBA Champions to improve on his footwork and shot creation. The results were very obvious, as he did benefit from the tuitions, turning into a lethal scoring weapon for the Celts.
But he missed one very basic training that is taking care of the basketball. In reality that is not his job, he plays at the forward position, which generally has minimal ball-handling pressure. But due to Celtics team dynamics, Tatum was forced to drop the ball on the floor now and then.
As per Statmuse data, Jayson Tatum has gifted 100 turnovers in a single postseason, setting a new record for playoff games. LeBron James had 94 turnovers back in 2018, and Tatum already surpassed king in game 5 against Golden State Warriors.
Eastern Conference Finals MVP had an average of 3.9 turnovers per game against the conference rivals. But he did score enough to overshadow that casualty. In Finals though Tatum struggled poorly against Western Champions and handed them advantages at crucial possessions.
Even before Game 6, Celtics would be almost unbeatable had they taken care of the ball better. They were 1-7 in the playoffs when committing 15-plus turnovers, versus 13-2 when taking better care of the ball. So it was quite an obvious observation from everyone is to keeping possession tight, would give them some chance in the game.
In Finals games average point differential was around 13 points and the Warriors hold a slight upper hand (82-74) in turnover stats, indicating that a better ball control might have given the Celtics some chance in the finals games. Though it’s not only on Jayson Tatum but as a leader of the team, he would have performed better in that category.
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Kunal Chawda
(600 Articles Published)