Updated Monday, May 30, 2022 –
19:17
–
The forward, who pays permanent tribute to his idol, leads the Celtics to the NBA Finals 12 years later. They will fight for the ring, starting Friday, against the Warriors.
–
when i was little Jayson Tatum (San Luis, 1998) told his mother that he wanted to be Kobe Bryant. “You mean you want to be a basketball player?” “No, I want to be Kobe Bryant.” The legend laker was for Tatum what Michael Jordan for the previous generation and what LeBron James for the next one. A hero first, and a mentor later, since in 2018 he invited him to train hand in hand in private.
This Sunday, hours before the decisive seventh game against Miami, Tatum sent a message to Kobe’s phone. “I got you today” (something like “today I’ll take care of it”). And with a purple armband with number 24 in his honor, he led the Boston Celtics to victory and the ticket to the NBA Finals.
Tatum debuted it in his first game against the Lakers after Bryant’s death, a month after the tragedy – and he scored 41 points. He is a nod that he now reserves for special occasions. The visits to the Lakers, the first birthday without Kobe or this seventh game in Miami.
That is why it would not be strange to see him also in the Finals, which will be played from Thursday, June 2, against the Golden State Warriors. Although Tatum is the franchise player for the Celtics; Although Bryant is a legend and memory of the eternal rival; although he was the executioner of Boston in the last Finals of 2010. To Kobe, he always remembers, he owes basketball.
Just as Kobe’s basketball reflected his obsession with Jordan, the early Tatum had bits of Bryant in it. Especially that love for a medium distance that the NBA was already cornering, and a footwork that the teacher himself helped him refine. Jayson Tatum is the quintessential modern small forward, a technically resourceful scorer and a great defender. A star who learns to dominate.
More murderous instinct was claimed from Tatum, that determination to impose his will that made Kobe Bryant the Black Mamba, that ability that is not transmitted, that is discovered making his way, and that separates him, less and less, from being a superstar. .
From a player father and courageous mother
Jayson Tatum’s genealogy speaks basketball. His father was a professional player in the Netherlands until injuries ended his career; his godfather is Larry Hughes, a shooting guard who stood out in the Warriors, the Wizards and the Cavaliers, where he was a squire for LeBron James in the 2007 Finals. He is the one who owes that photo together with which 10 years ago he asked LeBron to follow him on Twitter. Tatum, then a child, posed in a Bryant jersey.
But it is his mother who is the central figure in his story. Who did everything possible to hide the hardships from her (the lack of food, the supply cuts, the eviction notice that one day she found on the door) until her father agreed to settle in her life back in the United States. And who put him in contact with another great promise from San Luis.
Brandy Cole-Barnesas she is called now, played volleyball during her high school years and once took care of her coach’s son. Bradley Beal he was a few years older than Jayson but they played together, and through him he found his way to the elite. Thanks to being able to work with Drew Hanlen, a personal trainer in fashion among NBA stars. Last season they shared the starting lineup in the All-Star.
the green hope
Tatum came to the Celtics in a move that presides over the long legacy of Danny Ainge in the offices: Boston transferred the number one in the draft (Markelle Fultz, the point guard who forgot to throw) for number three and another first round. With the arrival of Jaylen Brown A year later, the Greens put together the basis of the project that, after reaching the Eastern Conference final three times, will finally play in the Finals.
Tatum and Brown are the ideal pairing for modern forwards. Tall, versatile in both hoops and with a good vision of the game. A two that, however, was questioned at the lowest point of the season, when in January, halfway through the season, the Celtics had a record of 20 wins and 21 losses. There were slaps on the ears of the coach, Ime Udokaand his partner Marcus Smart, which did not go from calls to order. But also who said that the best way was to separate them.
“They said we can’t play together!” Tatum repeated this Sunday hugging Brown after sealing the pass to the NBA Finals. The first of what promises to be a long list. They were, along with the Milwaukee Bucks, the team with the best weapons to try to contain the offensive flow of the Golden State Warriors.
According to the criteria of
