The Jay Team may be at the helm of the Boston Celtics’ recent success, but that doesn’t mean the two third-overall picks in consecutive NBA Drafts are interchangeable.
In fact, it’s the differences between wing Jaylen Brown and swingman Jayson Tatum that make the pair such a potent combination.
Brown’s nascent 3-point game and explosive bursts to the basket fueled by his unworldly athleticism are a natural pairing for Tatum’s smooth floaters and crafty game that allow him to score through the tiniest crease of a defense.
“I guess we feed off each other,” explained the Georgia native (via MassLive’s John Karalis) after dispatching the Denver Nuggets 108-95 Friday evening.
“Kind of different games, kind of opposite, but it makes sense, like Fire and Ice. We just try to come out and be aggressive,” added the fourth-year wing.
“Those guys are still getting better,” offered head coach Brad Stevens.
“They are really enjoying playing together and figuring it out with the rest of our team,” he continued, alluding to Boston’s unexpectedly strong record, and not just against bad teams.
In fact, through the blossoming of the duo and arrival of All-NBA point guard Kemba Walker, the team has exceeded expectations. And while the Connecticut product got the lion’s share of early praise, Tatum and Brown have evolved into players one cannot ignore.
“Those two guys in particular have done a really good job in this early part of the season, just focusing on making the right plays,” added Stevens.
“It feels good,” said Marcus Smart, Boston’s defensive Swiss Army knife. “I think everybody sees the steps that they’ve taken towards becoming better basketball players, and it shows.”
It seems like just yesterday, the narrative of whether Cal-Berkeley product Brown deserved the significant pay raise Boston granted him ahead of the start of the 2019-20 season was ubiquitous.
Those narratives, for all intents and purposes, have dried up like the Sahara Desert, and for good reason.
At the same time, Jayson Tatum’s emergence as a consistent scoring threat has allowed he and Walker to demand coverage enabling their recently-extended wing to thrive.
It’s hard not to get excited about seeing what the team can do once Gordon Hayward is back in uniform.
For now, in a season defined as much by chemistry as anything else, it seems fitting for the catalyst of greatness to come from the interplay of two elemental substances like fire and ice.
