Jayson Tatum highlights grim mood in Boston Celtics camp after loss to Pacers
Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum was far from being in a good mood after the team's most recent loss to the Indiana Pacers. Following the loss, Tatum highlighted the grim mood in the Celtics locker room during the postgame interview as well.
The Celtics have been presented as one of the best teams in the NBA this season. After a red-hot start, however, the C's seem to have fallen upon rough times.
Their most recent 112-117 loss to the Indiana Pacers certainly adds to their misery. With their fifth loss in their last six games, the Celtics are on a bit of a downward spiral. Needless to say, this has affected the morale within the camp as well.
Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum noted this during his postgame interview. Highlighting the grim mood within the locker room, Tatum said:
"You don't want to talk to all your colleagues after a bad day at work. You just want to go home, kick your feet up, and watch some TV."
Tatum said he already said hi to Theis and Nesmith earlier, so he just went straight to the locker room after the buzzer: "You don't want to talk to all your colleagues after a bad day at work. You just want to go home, kick your feet up, and watch some TV."
In the context of leaving immediately after the buzzer, Tatum said that he wasn't in the mood to stay and talk to former teammate Aaron Nesmith and Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton.
Jayson Tatum's approach may be a bit concerning as it reflects the poor state of morale within the Celtics camp. However, with challenges such as this being part and parcel of the season, it will be interesting to see how the boys from Beantown bounce back after this phase.
Jayson Tatum puts up 41 points in Boston Celtics’ loss to Indiana
Jayson Tatum has truly set himself apart as the Boston Celtics’ superstar this season. Doing everything from scoring and facilitating to being an active presence on the defensive end, Tatum has made a strong argument as an MVP candidate this year.
However, Tatum’s efforts haven’t been enough to see the Celtics through to wins as of late. As mentioned earlier, Boston have lost five of their last six games. As a team who rarely loses back-to-back games, this statistic is rather alarming for the Celtics.
The loss to the Indiana Pacers is particularly heartbreaking for Boston. After a poor first half, the Celtics mounted a furious comeback led by Jayson Tatum. Behind Tatum’s scoring charge, the Celtics almost turned things around in the third quarter as they dropped an incredible 42 points. Unfortunately, the Pacers managed to match Boston’s scoring output with timely buckets to contain the lead.
While the Celtics managed to cut the lead significantly by the end of the game, they simply didn’t have enough time. Tatum notched an impressive 41 points. To go with his huge scoring night, the superstar also had five rebounds and four assists with some active work on the defensive end. Unfortunately, Tatum’s effort was met with relatively sporadic support.
Jaylen Brown and Malcolm Brogdon notched barely under 20 points each and Sam Hauser was the only other player with double-digit scoring. In this regard, Tatum’s postgame reaction is almost justified. The Celtics are officially in a slump. Having lost five games in the last 10 days, Boston have fallen to 22-10 on the season.
To add to their misery, the last few losses have also seen Boston fall out of the number one spot in the East. Now half a game behind the Milwaukee Bucks, the Celtics can no longer boast the best record in the NBA.