Jayson Tatum, Celtics choose execution over retribution with Grant Williams

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If Jayson Tatum intended to play out of character Saturday night, to seek some level of vengeance, his first opportunity to do so arrived early in the first quarter. Grant Williams, whose hard foul of Tatum drew an ejection Friday, switched out onto the All-Star for the first time during the second leg of a back-to-back between the Celtics and Hornets.

Tatum could have called his own number. He could have focused solely on the individual matchup. He could have hunted a bucket on that play and every other possession during which Williams guarded him. Instead, Tatum sought retaliation in his own way.

“I don’t ever make it about one person,” Tatum said Saturday night after his team’s 113-103 win. “I understand who I am, who I am in this league, and I come out and play the right way. It’s not about a matchup or anything. Just come out and try to dominate and give my team the best chance to win.”

On that first play against Williams, Tatum dribbled once to his left, lifted the ball over his head and lobbed an assist to Luke Kornet. With a much smaller defender in Josh Green guarding him, Kornet needed only to catch the pass, turn toward the basket and lay the ball in for an easy score. When the Hornets switched Green onto Kornet, giving the big man an 8-inch height advantage, Tatum wasn’t going to force his own offense just to get the best of Williams.

Did Tatum still have some animosity toward Williams after Friday’s flagrant 2 foul? Did Tatum ever have animosity toward Williams about it? It was impossible to know with certainty because Tatum, after declining to speak to the media Friday, avoided discussing the incident again Saturday.

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Tatum said. “Just got ready for the game today. Came to Charlotte, did what we were supposed to do. We’re going to Atlanta and (will) try to get a win before we go home.”

Still, there were hints the Celtics didn’t forget about Williams’ hard shoulder. Tatum, who often follows a game by embracing friends on the opposing side, headed directly for the locker room area after the final buzzer. With 19.1 seconds left, after Williams made a layup, Derrick White pushed him out of the way to pick up the ball off the court.

The fireworks didn’t get any louder than that White shove. The Celtics chose execution over retribution. Tatum finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and three assists — a mild stat line compared to his season averages but one that did not fully encapsulate his impact, according to Joe Mazzulla.

“That’s the problem (with the box score),” Mazzulla said. “They doubled him and he made the right play every time. They need to put potential assists and screen assists on here. I thought he controlled (the game) and made the right play every time. … I thought he played a great game.”

After Williams leveled Tatum on Friday, Mazzulla said he liked that the Celtics stayed poised in the aftermath. Outside of a lull at the start of the second half, they typically did the same Saturday while leading for the final 45-plus minutes. Tatum said good night to the Hornets by repeatedly targeting LaMelo Ball late in the fourth quarter. After checking back in with 4:36 left, Tatum scored or assisted on nine consecutive points over the next four Celtics possessions to extend a 101-93 lead to 110-95.

On the first play during that stretch, Tatum forced Ball to switch onto him, drew a double-team and found Jrue Holiday for an open 3-pointer. On the following Celtics possession, Tatum spotted Al Horford alone in the corner, but the big man missed the clean look. After White tracked down the offensive rebound, Tatum drew a three-shot foul on Ball at the end of the shot clock. The next time Boston touched the ball, Tatum, with Williams defending him, called over Horford to screen because Ball was guarding the big man. Williams and Ball botched the coverage of the screen, leaving Tatum with a wide-open path to the rim for a dunk. Finally, to cap off the sequence, Tatum set a screen for Holiday, who was being guarded by Ball. When the Hornets didn’t handle the screen well, Tatum rolled into the paint, caught a pass from Holiday and delivered an alley-oop to Neemias Queta.

Tatum attacked the Hornets where they were vulnerable and leaned on them until he could create a good opportunity for his team.

“Sometimes they hit,” Mazzulla said. “Sometimes they didn’t. There were even a couple possessions where he caught it without spacing, he dribbled out to create spacing so that the hit was bigger so that he could see the two-on-one read. And so I just thought he had tremendous poise throughout the game and an understanding of how the defense was guarding him. And we showed growth in that.”

Boston will face much tougher tests than the young Hornets can provide. But on a Saturday night in early November, the Celtics produced more evidence of their focus this season. For Tatum, the night wasn’t about going back at Williams. It wasn’t about scoring as many points as possible or making the game about himself.

Tatum just kept trying to squeeze out quality possessions.

“Playing the right way,” Tatum said, “whether that’s scoring, rebounding, screening for other guys. The objective is to make sure we give us the best chance to win. It’s not about a situation or no other person.”