The Boston Celtics have been up and down recently, losing to the Anthony Edwards-less Minnesota Timberwolves at home on Sunday evening. It's been a rough couple of games for star Jayson Tatum, who suffered through a brutal shooting night during a recent road win over the Memphis Grizzlies, and was inefficient once again in the loss to Minnesota.
However, one person not concerned with Tatum's slumping shooting numbers is former NBA wing Iman Shumpert, who took to ESPN to urge calm.
“I don't think that the Celtics should take the bait of feeling like this is a ‘make sure he fits' type of situation. … When May 1st comes, he'll be ready,” said Shumpert, per First Take on X, formerly Twitter.
In order to make it to May 1st, the Celtics will have to get through the first round of the playoffs, which might not be a simple task considering the way some of the teams toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings are playing at the current moment.
However, it's certainly unfair of fans to assume that Tatum would be able to recapture his prime form immediately upon stepping onto the court following ten months of rehabbing his Achilles injury. The most important thing is that Tatum has shown an ability to move laterally relatively well, and although he is still knocking the rust off of his outside jumper, he seems to have fit in well with his Celtics teammates thus far.
Boston currently holds the number two seed in the Eastern Conference, but they will have to do some work in order to hold off the New York Knicks, who seem to be playing their best basketball at the right time.
The Celtics will next hit the floor on Wednesday for a tough home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
