The expectations for the series were broken down by the man. There is a time and a place for this.
The Boston Celtics star said he's not worried about his shooting performance in the first game of the series because it's not the first time he's had a bad game.
"If you've done something before, you know how to respond," he said after Saturday's practice. I've had bad shooting days in the NBA. I have been here before. Next game, I know what to do.
Many of it is mental. You don't pay attention to it. I can't do anything about it. It's what it is, I missed those shots. It's all about preparing and getting ready for the next event.
He has shown he can bounce back. In Boston's first-round series with the Brooklyn Nets, he went 5-for-16 from the field and scored 19 points, while in the second round, he went 4-for-19 from the field and scored 10 points.
He scored 39 points in the third game against Brooklyn and 30 points in the fourth game against Milwaukee.
He was happy with the way he moved the ball despite his struggles with his shot. One of the main areas coach Ime Udoka wants to see the star forward improve upon is his playmaking.
In the first game of the series, Golden State's defense gave him 13 assists while he only had two turnovers.
The man who scored 12 said he had more assists than points. I feel like I played the right way more often than not. It's not a big deal to over think. I feel like I miss more open shots than I make.
It's not something that I'm not getting enough sleep over. We won. It was the most important. The finals are over. The only thing that matters is that. I need to play better. I hope we win because I can't shoot like that. I expect to play better shooting-wise, but just impact the game in different ways to help my team win. I will keep doing that. Don't waste time, just read the game and read the plays. I approach next game that way.
According to Second Spectrum's tracking data, Golden State has given up 130 wide-open 3-pointers in the playoffs, the third-most in the last four years, and the most by a significant margin.
Boston hit 6 3-pointers in the fourth quarter alone, and that was one of the things that Tatum took advantage of. Golden State is doing the same things that other teams have done against him.
"They don't want me to just play one-on-one and things like that, so I'm sure they don't want me to do that," he said. Bring help and show a crowd.
I think I got a lot of open looks from kick-outs. I think it's part of the game plan to make me a playmaker and not let me be comfortable, it's something every team has been doing throughout the playoffs. It is not new.
The Celtics hope to do something they have struggled to do throughout the playoffs: handle prosperity well. Boston is 8-2 on the road in the playoffs, but the Celtics have lost their last five games after victories.
After Boston's fourth quarter comeback in Thursday's Game 1 gave the Celtics a 1-0 lead, they said they need to play with the same level of desperation after wins.
It wasn't about me and what I need to do. What we need to do, how we need to be prepared, how they are going to respond, that's what it's about. We have to be prepared and not relax because we are up.
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