“Celtics Practice Report: No one’s worried about Jayson Tatum, Porzingis gets shots up, Pritchard talks buzzer-beaters

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

AUERBACH CENTER — The Celtics practiced after their fourth consecutive blowout playoff win — this time over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1— and touched on a number of topics, including Jayson Tatum’s offensive struggles.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. No one is concerned about Tatum’s shooting woes

Much has been made of Jayson Tatum’s stat line yesterday (and in general, throughout this playoff run). In Game 1 against Cleveland, Tatum finished with 18 points on 7-19 shooting, and shot 0 of 5 from three. Those numbers brings his postseason averages down to 21.2 points on 40.6% shooting – and 25% from downtown. All of those are playoff career lows, albeit in a pretty small sample size.

But, Joe Mazzulla has a different take on Tatum’s performance than the critics. Yesterday, Mazzulla flagged Tatum’s screening and rebounding as major points of impact, and today, he noted that Tatum’s screening led to 1.6 points per possession in last night’s win.

“So, that would be the best offense in the history of the world,” Mazzulla said. “And he had 11 potential assists, and he had 18 points and three blocks. So, I think he’s doing a great job of taking what the defense (is) giving and finding any way to impact the game on both ends of the floor, and that’s what we need him to be.”

Jrue Holiday echoed that sentiment, highlighting that Tatum’s role in this offense is being more than just a scorer.

“I think he’s becoming a playmaker – or he’s being a playmaker,” Holiday said. “Not that he is being a sacrificial lamb, but he is making a lot of the right plays.”

Asked how Tatum is handling the shooting slump, Holiday said, “You gotta ask him. We’re winning, and he’s playmaking. So, it seems like he’s handling it well.”

Payton Pritchard took it one step further, calling the box score watchers criticizing Jayson Tatum “casuals.”

“People can have bad shooting nights, but what is he doing?” Pritchard said. “He had some great defensive plays. He made the easy passes which led to assists – big rebounds, he had 11 rebounds. It’s just the casuals who think it’s only about the shots. There’s so many areas he can affect the game.”

2. Payton Pritchard breaks down his buzzer-beating heaves

In last night’s win, Pritchard put together his highest-scoring offensive performance of the playoffs – finishing with 16 points, and hitting 4 of 10 from three-point range.

His buzzer-beating three at the end of the third quarter was a pivotal play, according to Donovan Mitchell, and Pritchard spoke about it at practice.

“I love buzzer-beating moments,” Pritchard said. “Take it off the rebound – go down, it’s an energy-type play. I think it changed the momentum of the game, and kind of took the wind out of them. That’s why you always have to shoot.”

Pritchard has long been a heave-taker, and he’ll continue to be so long as he gets the opportunity.

“I’ve said this before – if you want to dive into percentages, and look at what’s really good shots, what I’m shooting on those, take those away, then I’ll let the front office know,” Pritchard said. “They can handle that. That’s a basketball play – we should take those shots, even if it’s full-court. What if that goes in? That’s another two points.”

3. Kristaps Porzingis gets shots up

It wasn’t anything super revealing, but Kristaps Porzingis made a practice appearance, marking his first time getting up shots in front of media since he strained his soleus on April 29th. While the shooting routine wasn’t strenuous, him continuing to be around practice can only be interpreted as a positive sign.

Joe Mazzulla, asked about Porzingis’s progress, said he didn’t have an update.

“I didn’t know he was out there until just now,” he said.

Is he walking completely normal? You be the judge.

Bonus Content: Enjoy this clip of Jrue Holiday and Jaylen Brown dancing to “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar.