basketball

Jayson Tatum never doubted Jaylen Brown could lead the Boston Celtics

โ€ขYahoo Sports

Star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum might have been taking care not to upset the chemistry built by his costar on the wing Jaylen Brown this season while the St. Louis native was rehabbing his Achilles tendon injury. But that does not mean that he was especially surprised by the Most Valuable Player-worthy campaign his Celtics teammate was putting together as the head of the snake for Boston, either.

"Honestly, Iโ€™ve been his teammate for nine years, so I wasnโ€™t surprised at all," said Tatum in a recent interview with Taylor Rooks. "Heโ€™s shown this level of play. For me, it was just like, I was out, we lost Jrue (Holiday), we lost (Kristaps Porzingis), we lost Al (Horford), and it allowed an opportunity for him and the rest of the team to have to step up and carry more on their shoulders.

" "Somebody as talented as he is, and as driven and as accomplished, now given more opportunity, I was fully a believer in what he was able to do and what the rest of the team was able to do," said Tatum. "We had a team meeting the day before I came back, so that would have been a Thursday," he added. "I remember I sat in front of the team and just vaguely expressed my thoughts and what Iโ€™d been dealing with this year.

" "A lot of it was me showing my appreciation for them and being quite candid, like you guys attacking the season the way you did, competing the way you did, being as together as you were, and playing with the joy and passion that yโ€™all played with, it made me want to get out of my situation and be out there with you guys. " Callus crazy, but the return of the hand-wringing over whether these two could play together with Brown at the helm seem... a little overwrought.

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