Jayson Tatum and his Celtics punched their ticket to the second round of the playoffs after beating the Heat on Wednesday. After going down to the Miami side in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, the Celtics had much to prove this year against the Florida team.
After dumping the Heat out of the postseason, Jayson Tatum looked back at last year’s mindset and compared the motivation levels this season. In the post-game press conference, the forward said, “I wanted to play Miami in a sense that, last year playing against Atlanta we might’ve relaxed a little bit.”
Tatum pointed out that the Celtics played the Heat four times in their last five playoff runs, so playing Jimmy Butler‘s team provides a measure of motivation for him. Though Jimmy Butler was unavailable in the playoffs this season, the Heat looked to turn the tables on the 17-time NBA Champions in game 2, but since then, it has been one-way traffic.
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White led the Boston side in game 5, scoring 25 points each. While Tatum lagged with 16 points, he played a pivotal role in the franchise’s first-round success against their familiar foes.
Jayson Tatum’s Series Performance Against Heat
Jayson Tatum played a central role in the Celtics’ historic 64-18 regular-season run. While the former Duke forward did not set the world alight with his playoff performances, he maintained a steady graph of output.
In game 1, Tatum recorded a triple-double of 23-10-10 stat line, followed by 28 points in the next game. Though the Celtics lost the game, the 26-year-old went 50% from field goals, which is his highest in the series.
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His double-double performances in the next two games, consisting of 22 and 20 points respectively, along with 11 rebounds on each occasion propelled the Celtics to a 3-1 series lead before coming into game 5, where they finished the job with a 118-84 win.
Tatum and Co. will now wait to find out about their round 2 opponents till the picture clears in the series between the Magic and the Cavs.
