To say that Jayson Tatum's NBA Finals debut was a disappointment would be a massive understatement. The Boston Celtics star could barely get anything going in Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors. Tatum would end the game shooting just 3-of-17 from the field: unacceptable shooting splits for any star in the Finals.
Despite his terrible shooting, though, the Celtics still walked out of Game 1 with a win. After that, Tatum was asked about how he felt about the win. The star gave a candid answer regarding his struggles, saying that: (via Keith Smith)
“I feel great. I mean, we're in the championship. All I was worried about was trying to get a win. And we did.”
Jayson Tatum on how he feels with the Celtics winning while he struggled shooting: "I feel great. I mean, we're in the championship. All I was worried about was trying to get a win. And we did."
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 3, 2022
Despite the poor shooting, Jayson Tatum absolutely made his presence felt in Game 1 against the Warriors. The Celtics star focused on making plays for his teammates all game long. Tatum would end the game with 13 assists, an NBA record for most assists in a Finals debut.
The Celtics also had two stars who picked up the slack during Tatum's struggles: Al Horford and Jaylen Brown. The duo terrorized the Warriors and made them pay for leaving them wide-open. Derrick White also came up huge for the Cs off the bench, nailing timely threes to keep Golden State at bay.
Don't expect this cold shooting from Tatum to stay, however. The Celtics star has proven time and time again that he can recover from awful streaks like this. However… if he ever gets bailed out by his teammates again, Tatum isn't going to complain at all.
Jayson Tatum: "I won't expect to shoot that bad again, but if we win, I'll take it.'
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 3, 2022
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