Tass Mellis

So looking like that championship, Jason Tatum, I thought.

Yeah, he looked like Jason Tatum.

He'd pick and roll every single time down, hunt the mismatch, and exploit the mismatch.

Sometimes it's in the post, like you're saying.

A bunch of his assists were also on baseline out-of-bounds plays that were just cooked up by Joe Mazzulla.

Easy dish underneath, but he was good.

This was a great win for the Celtics to be able to beat a hot Hornets team.

in charlotte without two of your top guys in white and brown two of your favorite colors uh in white and brown as well but yeah i mean you can just slot jason tatum and guess what you get to be the number one today peyton pritchard you're back in the starting lineup you get to be the number two today 28 points from him 32 from tatum if they get this level of tatum i'm not saying 32 and eight every night but like the level that he's been playing at as long as they're able to stay away from the things that have always been a problem for the celtics when they look their worst

During the Tatum and Brown era, it's been disjointed offense, taking turns, your turn, my turn, getting too much into one-on-ones, too much settling for threes.

But I think that the level that Tatum is playing at since his return is good enough for me to look at the Celtics and be like, this is probably the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.

Just because they've got such a long track record, they've got the continuity together, the team has definitely changed significantly.

over the years, especially this year with Porzingis leaving, Drew Holiday leaving, Luke Cornett being gone.

They lost significant parts of their top seven.

Horford's gone as well.

They haven't missed a step because they've got Jason Tatum now back with Jalen Brown.

Assuming these two guys are healthy, I think they're going to get enough from Tatum this year that he's going to be an influential player in the postseason.

Prior to his return, it was always like, oh, if they get 80% of Jason Tatum, they're going to be tough.

And I feel like they're getting

I don't know, 90% of Jason Tatum so far.

He's getting better, it looks like.