NBA Game Reviews: December 27, 2020

1. Jayson Tatum is the next Celtics superstar, but he needs to ditch the hero-ball

It’s difficult to find flaws in Jayson Tatum’s game. The 22-year-old continues to make leaps on the court, averaging 25 points and 8.7 rebounds early in his fourth season. He’s the unquestioned leader and best player on this ECF contending Boston team, but at times, that seems to clearly get to his head.

The Celtics have played in two close games this year, and with the game on the line, Tatum has forced two difficult shots to win it. He was fortunate that a horrendous miss over Giannis in Boston’s season-opener ended up banking in, but settled for a tough step-back three in the closing seconds of a one-point game on Sunday, and ran out of luck, as the Celtics fell to the Pacers 108-107.

The C’s are without Kemba Walker right now, which may put some additional pressure on Tatum to be the hero, but Tatum is surrounded with talent, and needs to learn to trust his teammates a little more if he wants to take his game and his team to the next level. Brad Stevens coaches a well-oiled machine that outperforms their talent, but they must follow that same strategy late in the game with the outcome on the line. Instead of iso possessions of just letting Tatum do his thing, it’d be more beneficial for the team to run a play and Tatum being willing to pass it if he doesn’t have a good look. 

2. The Clippers must change their load management approach this year if they want to win a Championship

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The Clippers spearheaded the league’s “load management” movement last year. Their stars, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, rarely played back-to-backs, and reportedly were able to pick and choose whether they played and practiced on a given day. This didn’t sit very well with teammates, and was one factor that led to the team’s collapse in the bubble.

Kawhi sat out Sunday’s game against the Mavericks due to a nasty facial injury he suffered on Christmas from an inadvertent Serge Ibaka elbow. His absence today was not a case of load management, but it definitely showed the Clippers something significant. The team needs Leonard in the lineup, and they can’t prioritize load management over team chemistry and winning regular season games, especially while another key contributor in Marcus Morris is also out with an injury.

The Clippers found themselves down 77-27 at halftime on Sunday afternoon, the largest halftime deficit in an NBA game during the entire shot-clock era (1964-65). The Clippers, in their first official home game of the year, would go on to lose by a franchise-worst 51 points to an 0-2 Dallas Mavericks team playing without Kristaps Porzingis, in an all-around shameful performance for any NBA team, let alone a team with Championship aspirations. The Clippers are hopeful Kawhi’s injury won’t keep him out too long. When he returns, they should think twice before letting him load-manage or another poor performance like this could occur once again.