Tatum: Cs survive cold streaks because they ‘find a way to contribute’

The Boston Celtics have found they can survive cold streaks on offense by supporting each other and finding ways to contribute to winning.

After their 102 – 99 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals playoff series, Boston Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum revealed a little about how the Celtics can be both laser-focused on winning, yet supportive of each other in their missteps.

In that Game 2 win, Boston starting point guard Kemba Walker had a rough shooting night, his 6-of-18 final tally disguising the especially rough going for the UConn product early in the game.

Going back to when ‘Team Shamrock’ — the foursome of Tatum, Walker, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart who played for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup — gave us our first glimpse of the new-look Celtics that arose out of the ashes of 2019-20, a team especially resilient to cold-shooting games.

“It’s a long game, and everyone has tough shooting nights,” answered Tatum on how the Celtics have looked out for each other in games when someone’s shot isn’t falling as Walker’s wasn’t that game.

“You would never tell someone to stop shooting, especially someone who has accomplished as much as [Walker] has and done it for 10, 11 years. When he’s off, I always tell him to shoot the next one, and when I’m off, he tells me the same, that you never know which one might get you going.”

“He had a big, big shot late at the end of the game that we really needed,” added the St. Louis native.

This support is a stark contrast to whatever happened the season prior; out of respect for what these guys are doing, we won’t dwell on the past, but in the present, the solidarity is very real, and critical for games like their last one.

“Even when you’re not hitting shots, we just encourage the guys just to find a way to contribute to helping us win, whether it’s … rebounding, [or] defense,” explained Tatum. “Because it may not be your night every night — we know that. But, all we care about is winning — especially this time.”

“All that matters is if you win or if you lost,” he finished.

And this team is here to win it all.

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