The Boston Celtics are facing elimination in Thursday’s Game 6 matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers. Many would assume that this means star forward Jayson Tatum would have a great game to try and keep the Celtics alive and force a Game 7. That has not been the case through one-half of play.
Tatum has had an extremely inconsistent in the series, erupting for 39 points in Game 1 while just scoring seven points in Game 2.
The four-time All-Star struggled mightily in the first half of play in Game 6, scoring just one point while shooting 0-10 from the field.
This is obviously extremely disappointing considering the season is one the line for Boston. Many took to social media to blast Tatum for his abnormally bad performance in the first half.
https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1656822285368524800
The brutal performance from Tatum puts him in rare company of very good players having very bad performances. He is just the seventh player since 1997 to take at least ten shots in a postseason half and make none of them.
Luckily for Celtics fans, Tatum’s struggles actually haven’t played much of a role in how the game has gone to this point. Thanks to some impressive play from role players like Malcolm Brogdon and Marcus Smart the Celtics took a seven-point lead into the halftime break.
Tatum is widely regarded as one of the best players in basketball, so this is definitely an abnormal game for him. Regardless, they will certainly need a better performance in the second half if they want to take this series to Game 7.