Tatum takes responsibility: “I need to be better”

Boston -- Celtics star Jayson Tatum took responsibility for the team's struggles in the first two games of the playoff series with the New York Knicks and vowed to make progress in Saturday's crucial Game 3.

"I'm totally responsible for how I play in this series and can't whitewash anything," Tatum said Thursday. “I need to be better, I hope to be better.”

Tatum’s jump shot has abandoned him so far in the series; he only made 12 of 42 shots (29%) and was often content with three-pointers, and he made 5 of 20 (25%). He only had nine free throws in two games and had eight turnovers, including in the final game of Game 2, which won 91-90.

"The players worked very hard in their games and techniques and were ready to shoot at those moments, but that hasn't happened in the last two games," said Tatum, who was part of the Celtics' offense, which collectively became cold, with only 25 of 100 three-pointers. "But you can't lose confidence.

Tatum and star teammate Jaylen Brown made a total of 2-for-19 shots in the fourth quarter of the series. The Knicks pulled back with 20 points behind both games in the second half and so far they scored 22 points higher in the final quarter than the Celtics.

" It's a credit to [Tatum] and I don't think I appreciate the fact that he would [take responsibility], but I think it's everyone's responsibility," said Celtics coach Joe Mazura. "We can all be better. I can do better. What I can help our team perform in the entire team can do better. Yes, so can he. So I just say who he is responsible for this, and I hope he can get better.

The Celtics held a movie conference on Thursday, with one of the key points being to keep the team confident and not miss the shot. Tatum stressed at the meeting that don’t let these struggles affect the aggressive approach the Celtics have taken, as they have rewrite the three-point record of winning the championship last season and winning 61 games in the regular season this season.

Mazula has long believed that a large number of 3-point shots are the key to the team's offensive success, and he emphasized that the team must adopt realistic and skillful methods to solve the dilemma.

"You can't just have our pride and rights that are more sacred than we are now, we don't allow 0-2 to fall behind," Mazura said. "That's what we're in. So we have to understand why we do it, we have to solve it, we have a chance to solve it.

Mazula also talked about the concerns of center Christapus Porzingis, who left the first game due to illness and was only able to play for 14 minutes in the second game. Porzingis missed 8 games in February and March due to mysterious respiratory problems, which experts have struggled to diagnose.

He has been battling the disease since then, and his condition worsened in Game 1, which Porzingis described as a "big collapse" of energy. On Wednesday, he did score 8 points and 4 points in a limited but effective minutes. , but after the game he said he was uncomfortable.

"He gave us everything he had, and with these two days off, I hope he can recover a little more," Mazula said. "Every game depends on how much he can play. But I am grateful for everything he has done for us.