Jayson Tatum fourth quarter Knicks struggles: What's causing poor performances and how to fix them

It's no secret why the Celtics find themselves in an 0-2 hole against the Knicks. They've suffered epic collapses in both of those games, due largely to a complete inability to score late. Boston shot just 20 percent from the field in the fourth quarter of both games and averaged a measly 16.5 points in that final frame. 

No Celtic has played particularly well, but Jayson Tatum has been the worst of the bunch. He's just 2-of-13 in the fourth quarter and overtime of those games. He's had some awful misses and turnovers, including one on the last play of Game 2. 

The Celtics aren't going to keep shooting 25 percent from 3 every game. As that normalizes, they will look better. But bad luck isn't the only culprit in these losses. There are things that they can do better at the end of these games. It starts with Tatum. 

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How Celtics can fix Jayson Tatum's clutch issues

Stop isolating against O.G. Anunoby

Tatum is normally a pretty good isolation player. He ranked in the 78th percentile during the regular season. But O.G. Anunoby is one of the best defensive wings in the league. Tatum doesn't have an advantage on these types of plays. 

Anunoby has held Tatum to 1-of-7 shooting when he is the primary defender in this series, per NBA Stats. The Knicks have been willingly switching Anunoby off with other weaker defenders on Tatum's pick-and-rolls, so he has way better opportunities than to settle for these one-on-one chances against their best on-ball defender. 

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Don't settle for pull-ups against mismatches

When Tatum has gotten Anunoby switched off him, he's had a significant size advantage over Jalen Brunson or speed advantage against the Knicks centers. 

When he has tried to leverage that speed, he's blown by defenders like Mitchell Robinson. He threw down a thunderous dunk in that fashion for his only fourth quarter field goal in Game 2.  

Instead of attacking Robinson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Brunson every time that way, Tatum has settled way too often for pull-up jumpers. Those aren't good shots for him — he hit only 35.2 percent of them during the regular season, including 32.9 percent on his 3's. 

Those numbers have gotten even worse against the Knicks. He's down to 24.0 percent shooting from the field on his pull-ups in this series. 

Tatum has had prolonged cold streaks like this before. He's had to tinker with his form in order to get out of them. Until he can figure out some sort of mechanical fix, he needs to scale back on those attempts. 

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Get the ball moving

Tatum has recorded only two assists during the end of these games. One of them came almost by accident, after a busted possession. 

Payton Pritchard was open before Tatum lost the ball, as Mikal Bridges was forced to guard two Knicks on the perimeter. Tatum got to the right decision eventually, but he should have made that initial pass rather than getting blocked first. Those passes have been there when he's driven the ball.

The problems don't just land on Tatum. The Knicks wings are stunting at him when he has the ball or closing off gaps with aggressive nail help. The easiest counter to that strategy is to cut behind the that help, opening up layup opportunities. His teammates haven't been making those cuts. Instead, they've stood still on the 3-point line, failing to pressure the defense.

Tatum's teammates also haven't been moving the ball as well as they should. The Celtics as a whole have only eight assists in the fourth quarter and overtime, compared to 11 for the Knicks. 

Boston's offense is at its best when they get the ball moving side-to-side, with multiple drives setting up kick out 3's. Instead, they've been trying to matchup hunt and go one-on-one against Brunson or Towns. Brown and Tatum simply haven't been good enough in those situations.

The Celtics need to consider pivoting away from that strategy. They have great one-on-one talent, but they need to get back to basics and move the ball more at the end of games for cleaner 3s.