The Boston Celtics have built the perfect scheme, and it all revolves around Jayson Tatum. Boston doesn’t run a heliocentric offense that rises to the point of Luka Doncic’s squads or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City Thunder. But still, Tatum’s usage rate ranks eighth in the NBA amongst players who have appeared in at least 40 games this year.
Tatum has effectively been Boston’s lead ball-handler for the past few years. He’s improved his passing every single season, yet teams still continue to treat him as if they can get away with turning him into a playmaker. This leads to opponents double-teaming Tatum on a nightly basis.
But that’s a welcomed sight for the Celtics.
Double-teaming Jayson Tatum is a terrible idea
There have been a ton of recent examples of this in recent games, and Tatum always manages to take full advantage of the double-teams.
In Boston’s win over the San Antonio Spurs this past Wednesday, as the shot clock was winding down, three players were defending Tatum. The Spurs sent a triple-team at him that included Defensive Player of the Year favorite Victor Wembanyama.
A few games prior, in a dominant victory over the Miami Heat, Bam Adebayo completely abandoned his side of the floor, choosing to sprint at Tatum and double-team him.
Perhaps Adebayo was trying to take over the matchup from Duncan Robinson, as that would have been a mismatch in Tatum’s favor, but the Celtics star simply made a quick pass and got Al Horford an open shot on the other side of the floor.
That’s not the first time a team has employed this tactic, either. In a Celtics win over the Bulls, rookie Matas Buzelis did the same thing. He left his matchup to double-team Tatum, who found an open Kristaps Porzingis deep behind the three-point arc.
But the insane part about that decision is that, up to that point in the night, Porzingis had already made seven threes. Meanwhile, Tatum finished the game shooting 5-of-5 from the field.
Chicago was so worried about Tatum (even on an off night) that they abandoned the hottest player on the court. Porzingis had 34 points that game.
Tatum is such an elite scorer from all over the court that opponents have consistently double-teamed him, and the Celtics love it.
He’s become such a great passer, and the Celtics have so much talent all over the floor, that every Tatum double-team almost always leads to a wide-open look for one of his teammates.
