Jayson Tatum on remainder of regular season: “that’s enough time to make up some ground”

A comeback occurred during the Boston Celtics’ matinee game on Monday against the New Orleans Pelicans. But despite what everything the C’s have gone through this season might lead fans to believe, Boston was the one on top at the end of it.

Their 55-point second half lifted the Celtics to a 104-92 win over the Pelicans. It marked Boston’s second win in a row and their fifth win over their last six games. Outside of the blemish that was the Philadelphia 76ers game, the C’s have been cruising lately.

After the contest on Monday afternoon, head coach Ime Udoka reflected on the 18-point comeback.

“Obviously, to go down 18 isn’t ideal, but to flip it back to 17 in our favor shows that we had some resolve and fought through it, which we’ve done a lot this year, but at times lost some of those close games.”

The word “some” may be understating the issue a bit, as the Celtics have lost 11 of 15 games that have been decided by five points or less this year. Luckily, they were able to hold the Pelicans at an arm’s reach in the end, so that situation didn’t rear its ugly head again.

As the schedule leaks over into the second half of the season, the Celtics still have time to make up some ground in the East. Udoka said that Boston is just going to keep grinding and improving, as they are always looking to play a perfect game.

“We’re going to keep grinding, obviously, we’ve been doing that all year. Just a poor start overall. We’re all looking for that perfect game, complete game.”

Superstar Jayson Tatum also spoke about the stretch ahead. The Celtics have 37 games left but sit only 1.5 games out of the #7 seed and three games out of the #6 seed. A single week could be the difference between sitting on the couch and being in the NBA Playoffs, and in Tatum’s eyes, there’s still plenty of time.

“Yeah, I mean we’ve been playing pretty good as of late. Hopefully here soon, we can get everybody back, and just continue to build off this. We have 37 games left. That’s enough time to make up some ground.”

Tatum helped close out the game with a 12-point fourth quarter against New Orleans. He also played some great defense on Brandon Ingram down the stretch, saying after the game that he is “trying to dominate the game in more than just one way.”

Boston will continue their homestand on Wednesday night as they take on the Charlotte Hornets. LaMelo Ball and company are currently only 1.5 games ahead of the C’s in that aforementioned #7 seed. A win would go a long way for the Celtics on Wednesday, so hopefully, they can do as Udoka said and just keep on grinding.