{"id":540713,"date":"2026-03-23T16:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/540713\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T16:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:21:11","slug":"tracy-mcgrady-asks-whether-celtics-are-divided-amid-tatum-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/540713\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracy McGrady asks whether Celtics are divided amid Tatum return"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“Are we still on the same page, or are we divided because we are not playing our same game?”<\/p>\n

\"\"\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJaylen Brown sheds light on 1-on-1 meeting with Jayson Tatum ahead of playoffs\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJayson Tatum, frustrated by shooting slump, is showing both rust and flashes\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Jayson Tatum, by his own admission, is still figuring things out <\/a>as he re-acclimates to playing in NBA games after his 10-month rehab from a ruptured Achilles\u2019 tendon. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been an adjustment for his Celtics teammates too. Something hasn\u2019t looked quite right since Tatum came back, NBC\u2019s Tracy McGrady said<\/a> during a recent appearance on the network. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor Boston, it\u2019s really just finding out the rhythm of the team now, of the other guys, when you insert a guy like JT,\u201d McGrady said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to say it seems out of whack, but their shooting has gone down since he\u2019s been here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s really like, guys what are we doing here?\u201d he added. \u201cAre we running the same stuff that we ran before? Are we still on the same page, or are we divided because we are not playing our same game? I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a lot mentally that these guys are going through because of the insertion of JT and them not playing the same type of basketball that they played individually, not shooting the ball well.\u201d <\/p>\n

McGrady pointed to the Celtics\u2019 close win against the Grizzlies Friday night, as well as some of the struggles the Celtics had in the loss to Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey struggled with Memphis the other night and they struggled [Sunday] against a team that didn\u2019t have their best players,\u201d McGrady said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m sure there\u2019s some questions that these guys have got to answer.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Vince Carter offered one word in response to McGrady: Shotmaking. The Celtics shot 36 percent from the field against Minnesota, while Jaylen Brown went 9-for-26. The Celtics shot 45 percent from the field in the win against Memphis, where Tatum went 3-for-15.<\/p>\n

Nights like those are bound to happen, Carter said, especially during the playoffs. The Celtics have struggles to adjust on multiple occasions when their 3-point shots weren\u2019t falling during the playoffs in recent years. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to have to make shots, and they\u2019re going to have to figure out when we\u2019re not hitting shots \u2013 and I know [Joe] Mazzulla has said he wants 40 to 60 [3-point] shots, they only got 33 up [Sunday], where do you go from there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the question because sometimes in the playoffs that 3-point shot is not going to be there. Who is going to be that next guy, or how are we going to play from then? Who do we feature, or where do we put our two stars to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carmelo Anthony suggested having Tatum play down low on the block more to create more high-percentage opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlay in this low block, get as close as you can to the basket,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cYou\u2019re so big, you\u2019re so strong, you can shoot over little guys, you can get in the paint. You\u2019re too strong for these guys. Don\u2019t try to get it back out there on the 3, I want to see you to get back to this spot, then you build yourself back up.\u201d <\/p>\n

Fifty-three percent (75 of 139) of Tatum\u2019s field-goal attempts have been 3-pointers this season. He has taken only 40 shots from 10 feet and in this season. He has taken 62 pull-up jumpers, and he has only made 29 percent of those.<\/p>\n

Getting more aggressive down low and settling for fewer threes would help Tatum\u2019s game even when he\u2019s fully healthy, McGrady said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we\u2019re going to get our rhythm this way,\u201d McGrady said. \u201cGetting easy baskets getting to the free-throw line. Now, as you feel like you\u2019ve gotten that rhythm you feel like you can extend out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to start out here and you don\u2019t have your basketball legs, and then you struggle and then you don\u2019t come inside? That\u2019s a bad recipe for basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtics are taking 42.3 threes per game this season, down from 48.2 a year ago. They had led the league in 3-point attempts the previous two years, but they are third this year. <\/p>\n

Part of that has had to do with widespread personnel changes that came after Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Al Horford departed in the offseason. <\/p>\n

But, part of it is also that they\u2019ve been playing without Tatum. He has taken at least 8.2 3-point attempts per game in each of the last five seasons. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a part of Tatum\u2019s game. The Celtics won a title in 2024 while shooting even more threes, and they survived a lengthy shooting slump from Tatum during those playoffs. <\/p>\n

However, as Tatum continues to find his way while re-adjusting to the daily grind of an NBA season, a pair of former All-Stars are saying that things don\u2019t quite look right and that some easy looks may be helpful.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tKhari A. Thompson<\/a>Sports Reporter\t<\/p>\n

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics “Are we still on the same page, or are we divided because we are not playing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-540713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}