It was another disappointing performance for the Boston Celtics on Friday night as they fell to the Damian Lillard-less Portland Trail Blazers. While Jayson Tatum had a solid night with 27 points, 10 boards, and seven dimes, his struggles from three-point land continued, missing all six of his attempts including a crucial triple in the dying seconds of regulation. Tatum has now missed a career-high 20 threes in a row.
The Celtics star isn't having a bad season by any means, but his true shooting percentage is substantially lower than what it's supposed to be, giving him the label of the unluckiest shooters around.
Tatum's effective field goal percentage on jump shots is now 6.9 points below what it is expected to be, per Second Spectrum's tracking data — a gap that ranks last among 67 NBA players who have taken at least 300 jump shots.
On top of that, the Celtics swingman is also 75th out of 79 players in the league when isolated to strictly three-pointers. On the season, he's shooting just 31% from downtown in 2021/22. Far from ideal. However, Tatum believes that he will break out of this rut eventually:
“But I know for myself, and I guess some of the other guys who aren't shooting as well, it's not going to change how people guard us. They know what [I am] capable of, and it's just a matter of getting out of it.
“And I will, and we'll be able to talk about something else.”
Again, the Celtics blew a clear-cut lead. They missed nine shots in the final seven minutes of the contest, with the Blazers going on a 20-5 run to snatch a victory from Boston. Hopefully, Tatum and the C's can start to find their rhythm from long range and turn things around.
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