The Boston Celtics stole Game 1 of the NBA Finals on the road, defeating Golden State 120-108 in impressive fashion. But it wasn’t Jayson Tatum’s scoring that put Boston over the top in this one, but rather his facilitating and playmaking did the trick.
Tatum, unfortunately, didn’t have a great night shooting the ball and scoring points. He finished with only 12 points on 3-17 shooting from the field, including 1-5 from deep.
When he quickly realized it wasn’t going to be his night as a scorer, Tatum went to work in another way. And by doing so, he became the team’s main facilitator on offense- finishing with 13 assists.
Tatum went on to set an NBA record with the most assists in an NBA Finals debut, joining an elite list of players:
What was most impressive from Tatum was that he found another way to make an impact on the game without scoring. It was the way he was passing and the efficiency in which he did it.
The Celtics had 33 total assists on 43 made baskets.
Despite Tatum having an off night scoring the ball, he didn’t allow himself not to be effective and impact the game. That’s a HUGE level of growth and maturity from Tatum and honestly something we haven’t seen to much of yet in his career.
The Celtics will need Tatum to have a better game tomorrow night. They were able to steal Game 1 without much from Tatum. They also grabbed homecourt advantage with the win here in San Francisco.
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