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Jayson Tatum lacks only one thing to finally become a legend for the Boston Celtics: a championship, of course. After leading the Celtics to a 97-110 victory Thursday night over Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals, he continues to take inspiration from one of the greatest Celtics players of all time, Larry Bird.
It's hard to ignore the parallels between the situation Tatum is in now, and the situation Bird found himself in in 3. The Celtics were 2-1981 behind in the Eastern Conference Finals at the time, but turned things around and went all the way to winning Bird's first championship, then 3.
Forty-two years have passed, and the 1-year-old Tatum fantasizes about a similar scenario. After tonight's game, he is only two wins away from a brilliant and historic turnaround that will bring him closer to his goal.
"When things don't go well, when nothing develops as you expected and hoped, that's when the character of a team is tested. And we're a bunch of tough, stubborn players," said Tatum, who continues to show a composure reserved for big players in stressful situations. Tatum played in 24 career games in which the Celtics were in danger of elimination. He averaged 42.25 points per game in those games, more than any other Boston player in history (Larry Bird, for example, averaged 15.27 points in 1 such games, and Paul Pierce 23.3).
Love to have your back to the wall. Tatum (Photo by Getty Images, Maddie Meyer)
"Jason always shows up when we're with our backs to the wall. He has that special character," said Celtics coach Joe Mazzola, who, unlike Tatum, first faces such pressure as a head coach and, unlike him, takes inspiration from other larger-than-life figures.
"Before the game I met with three young women with terminal cancer. I thought I would encourage their spirits, but they were the ones who encouraged mine. They helped me get proportions and relax," Mazzulla said before the game. "To see a young woman dying smiling at you and being so happy with what life has to offer was all I needed to remember why I was even here."
Mazzulla has been widely criticized throughout the playoffs for mishandling and late timeouts, but in the last two games he has looked sharper and more focused, knowing when and how to stop Miami's momentum when one starts. "I think just like we as players learn things on the go, it's like that with the coach. He learns, he adapts, he adopts new things. He understands better what is required of him in this position," explains Marcus Smart.
Mazzulla is convinced Boston can do what no team has done before and complete a turnaround from falling behind 3-0 in the series. "One of my assistants put it in the best way possible – we had a great season for nine months, and one bad week. One bad week can't decide an entire season. In the end, we play the way we know how to play," he said.
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Came to rejoice, and came out encouraged. Joe Mazzulla (Photo by Getty Images, Maddie Meyer)
On the other side, Jimmy Butler may have finished with just 14 points — a negative record for him in the current playoffs — but he's certainly not losing faith or shaking himself. The big winner of the playoffs is convinced that despite the change in momentum in the series, Game 6 in Miami on Saturday night through Sunday will be the Heat's advance to the Finals. "It's ours, I just know it," he declared confidently. "We need to play better, we need to open the game better, and we have to keep a positive attitude. We'll go home, and we'll finish it."
Bam Adebayo is also trying to broadcast business as usual. "Why should we lose confidence? When this journey started, no one believed in us - and now we are one more win away from the final," he explained. "As far as we're concerned, security hasn't been compromised. He wasn't lost, nor will he be lost later on, no matter what happens in Game 6."
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