Celtics’ offensive slide
Since Jayson Tatum returned, Boston’s offense has cratered — they’re 16th in offensive rating over the last eight games and in their loss to Minnesota they started the fourth 3‑for‑22, a stark departure from earlier ball movement (TIMBERWOLVES at CELTICS full highlights, Mar 22) (youtube.com). That stagnation raises real red flags heading into playoff rotations if the roster can’t rediscover assists and off‑ball motion (TIMBERWOLVES at CELTICS full highlights, Mar 22) (youtube.com).
Jayson Tatum logged his eighth game since returning from Achilles surgery and finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds on March 22 at TD Garden. (espn.com) Boston opened cold from deep, missing eight of their first nine 3-point attempts, and Minnesota answered with a 16-0 run that flipped the game; Bones Hyland scored 23 and Jaden McDaniels added 19 for the Wolves. (espn.com) Boston’s offense has been measurably softer in recent stretches — the team’s offensive rating over the last 10 games fell to about 115.4 compared with a season mark near 120.5. (statmuse.com) Tatum’s minutes are being managed as he ramps back up: he moved from 27 minutes in his early outings to 32 minutes in later games and averaged 20.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists across his first five appearances. (985thesportshub.com) On distribution, Boston is averaging roughly 24.5 assists per game this season and recorded 257 assists in its last 10 games (an average of 25.7), while internal tracking showed Derrick White’s 3-point assisted rate spiked to about 92% in the five games with Tatum back. (statmuse.com) The Celtics face Oklahoma City next on March 25 and then Atlanta on March 27, giving coach Joe Mazzulla a short window to adjust rotations and restore the team’s prior ball movement before postseason seeding matters grow sharper. (statmuse.com)
