As hot as Jaylen Brown was against the New York Knicks, star teammate Jayson Tatum was not in the Celtics’ opening night loss Wednesday.
Though Tatum managed 20 points in his first regular-season action of 2021, it didn’t come easily. The All-Star forward shot just 7-of-30 (23 percent) from the field, including 2-of-15 from three-point land, and couldn’t support Brown’s incredible 46-point outburst to knock off the Knicks in overtime.
But his new coach, Ime Udoka, isn’t sweating Tatum’s struggles.
The Celtics’ first-year head coach attributed his star scorer’s struggles to Tatum just being out of rhythm when speaking with the Zolak and Bertrand Show on 98.