Tatum has perfect mindset after Celtics beat Magic to start 3-0

Share

The Boston Celtics are 3-0 for the first time since 2009 after they beat the Orlando Magic 126-120 on the road Saturday night, but Jayson Tatum is nowhere near satisfied.

In fact, he sees plenty of room for improvement.

"We have to give them some credit. They played with confidence. They made shots. But we got to be better -- 120 points (allowed tonight), 100-plus points in the first game (against the Philadelphia 76ers), that's just not who we are," Tatum told NBC Sports Boston's Abby Chin.

"It's a back-to-back and it's early, but if we're trying to get back to where we want to be, we got to play way better than this. It shouldn't take the back-and-forth for us to play the right way on both ends. We've just got to start better and just play together, way better than we did in this game."

That's the type of mentality you want to see from your franchise player. Tatum talked all offseason about how the disappointment of losing in the NBA Finals impacted him and how it would motivate him going forward.

And we've certainly seen a different Tatum to begin the 2022-23 season.

Tatum broke this Larry Bird Celtics scoring record in win vs. Magic

Tatum has scored 104 points through the first three games after dropping 40 on the Magic. That's the highest total for a Celtics player in the opening three games of a season, surpassing Larry Bird's previous record of 96 set in 1984-85.

While it's encouraging for the Celtics to be playing so well offensively early in the season, they can be a lot better on the defensive end of the floor. Boston is giving up 113.6 points per game so far, compared to its league-best 104.5 points allowed per game last season. The C's do not look like the team that had the No. 1 rated defense in 2021-22.

In fairness to the Celtics, Al Horford and Robert Williams did not play Saturday against the Magic. The Celtics also were on the second night of a back-to-back following a hard-fought win over the rival Miami Heat. And it's only been three games, which is a very small sample size.

But Tatum is absolutely right. The Celtics need to be a lot better defensively if they're going to get back to the NBA Finals and finish the job. He has the perfect mindset to begin the season. 

Contact Us