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Coming off an Achilles injury, no one expected Jayson Tatum to be this good in the NBA Playoffs. Heck, not a lot of people expected him to be back playing for Coach Joe Mazzulla. Yet, all those expectations were usurped by a monster performance by the superstar which led to the Boston Celtics' 123-91 demolition of the Philadelphia 76ers.
There was one glaring thing that Tatum did which caught the attention of Coach Mazzulla. It could be why they win a 19th banner come June.
Mazzulla loves Tatum's improved skill that could get Celtics atop NBA Playoffs
It is one thing to return from an Achilles injury faster than expected and another to come back better than you were before. Jayson Tatum did exactly both of those for the Celtics. He was the reason why Coach Joe Mazzulla was able to lead the team to a 1-0 NBA Playoffs series lead over the 76ers.
One thing that the Celtics head coach loved a lot was how his star player improved in rebounding. Mazzulla outlined why this will be a big reason why they can be atop the rest of the pack in the NBA Playoffs, via Jay King of The Athletic.
"Thought his performance was really good. Rebounding was great. He changed defensive matchups six, seven, eight times throughout the game. I thought that was great there," the Celtics head coach said.
Mazzulla is right in pointing out that Tatum's rebounding was the difference-maker against the 76ers. Tatum led all players in this NBA Playoffs game with his 11 rebounds. This gave the Celtics the edge that they needed on the glass. This led to them having 38 defensive rebounds which were nine more than the 76ers.
The Celtics coach points out that Tatum has been working on this for a while. Mazzulla outlined that no other player other than his star player can pull off a reinvention like this because of his distinct discipline.
"He built that through just a work ethic. He built that through just knowing where he was and where he wanted to get to. I kind of go back to where he didn’t distance himself the whole time. I think we needed him. He needed us. We needed each other. We all need each other," Mazzulla added.
The Celtics are well on their way to Banner 19. If they end up demolishing the 76ers and see the end of the NBA Playoffs by June, Tatum's rebounding will be a big reason why they succeed.
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