House explains how Tatum wanting to guard Edwards ‘fuels’ Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The top tier of NBA players don’t just score a ton of points. They also want the challenge of shutting down the opponent’s best player on defense.
Jayson Tatum did both in the Boston Celtics’ impressive 118-115 road win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, and it was yet another example of why he should be a serious candidate for league MVP.
With both Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis out of the lineup due to injury, Tatum scored a game-high 33 points, including 16 in the third quarter. He also grabbed nine rebounds and dished out eight assists, along with three steals, in 38 minutes of playing time.
But most importantly, Tatum took on the challenge of guarding Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards. And it wasn’t a case of head coach Joe Mazzulla assigning Tatum to defend Edwards. The 26-year-old wing asked for the matchup.
“He wanted to guard him, so he took that defensive challenge,” Mazzulla said postgame. “That’s key for us to get to where we want to get to is him taking that on, so it’s a credit to him.”
Edwards played well below his standards. He scored just 15 points on 5-for-16 shooting (2-for-9 from 3-point range). When guarded by Tatum, Edwards scored just six points on 2-for-5 shooting (0-for-2 on 3-pointers) with one turnover.
“Even when I might have the shot, I’m like, ‘Aw they bringing two.’ Or a lane. I don’t know, man. I don’t know. I watch film, trying to figure it out,” Edwards said postgame, via MassLive’s Brian Robb.
“It’s hard to beat two NBA players, you know what I mean? These dudes are NBA players. It’s not like high school or middle school. These dudes, 6-8, 6-9, long strong, athletic. Then they funneling me to the dude who 8 feet tall at the rim. It’s crazy.”
Eddie House explained on NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics Postgame Live how Tatum wanting to guard Edwards lifted his teammates and gave them a boost.
“Since Jaylen Brown is out, your superstar steps up,” House said. “He says ‘I want that challenge. I need that. I’m not ducking the smoke, I want that smoke.’ And what that does is it fuels your team because you see your guy going out there not only just wanting to get paper on one end, and get money, and score points. ‘No, I also want to guard the best player that they have,’ so that does ignite your team.
“It gives you a little extra jolt, a little extra juice to go out there and do your job a little bit better than maybe you were thinking about doing when you placed them up. It’s January. It’s starting to become the dog days. Sometimes it’s hard to find that motivation and extra energy. He gave them a bolt of energy by (guarding Edwards).
Tatum leads the Celtics in points (28.5), rebounds (9.5) and assists (5.6) per game. He’s also excelling defensively, and his 108.5 defensive rating is two points better than it was last season.
Tatum probably won’t put up the stats required to win MVP, especially with Nikola Jokic averaging almost a triple-double for the Denver Nuggets. But it’s pretty hard to find any player in the league who makes a larger impact for his team on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor than Tatum does for the Celtics.