Celtics vs Bucks: What Led To The Uncharacteristic Performance Of Jayson Tatum?

The second day of seeding games inside the Orlando bubble presented an exciting matchup. East giants Milwaukee Bucks took on the Boston Celtics in a highly competitive game. The Bucks pulled off a near comfortable victory and Celtics’ Jayson Tatum just did not enjoy his comeback to the court. 

Tatum suffered one of the worst shooting performances in his career against the Bucks. The 22-year-old failed to make his presence felt as the Celtics gave away a tough loss to Milwaukee. Prior to the season’s suspension, Tatum was the NBA Eastern Conference player of the month in February. 

He was in such good form and he averaged 30.7 points per game and shot 49.4% from the field. Tatum’s dismal shooting today saw him make only two field goals from 18 attempts. This performance is certainly one to forget for Tatum as it ranks as one of his worst shooting displays, similar to a 1-18 game which he had against the Mavericks early in the season.

The Bucks played a tight game against Tatum and succeeded in keeping him quiet. Early contests with Giannis ended in failed shot attempts which might have lowered his confidence. As defenders double-teamed to apply more pressure on Tatum, his shooting dropped to a sub-par level. The Bucks effectively stopped Tatum from making quality shots as the 22-year-old displayed a weak shooting form in the game.

Tatum is currently averaging a career-high of 23.6 points this season, but has had a poor start to his bubble campaign. The young forward needs to brush up his skills and find his shooting form because the Celtics will face pressure from the Miami Heat who rank just below them in the Eastern Conference Table. 

Giannis Antetokoumpo proves why he should be this year’s MVP in a stellar performance against the Celtics

Giannis played an excellent game, marking an explosive return for the reigning league MVP. Everything Giannis touched seemed to turn into gold, except for his free throws. The 25-year-old has a career FT success rate of 72.4%. 

But in the game against the Celtics, he struggled to convert his free throws in the early stages of the match. However, Giannis hasn’t stepped down his on-field shooting any bit. With a rich field goal average of 70%, the ‘Greek Freak’ scored 36 points in the game to outscore every other player by quite a margin. 

Marcus Smart played a tremendous game and picked up 23 points to his name. The Celtics trailed the Bucks for almost the entirety of the game, and suffered a huge 15-point deficit right at the opening minutes. With the help of Smart and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics were able to keep up a steady chase for the lead, which they eventually got late in the third quarter. 

A short-lived lead turned into defeat a few minutes later. The Bucks rallied on to take a seven-point victory after Giannis went full beast mode in the final moments. A solid performance from Brook Lopez and veteran Khris Middleton severed as the compliment that comes along with the main picture that is Giannis Antetokounmpo. 

SOURCE:  NBA.com,  NBC Sports Boston,  Celtics Wire