Jayson Tatum Promises Celtics Will Win NBA Finals This Year

Jayson Tatum said that Jayson Tatum is going to win the 2019 NBA Finals. After winning the skills competitions during All-Star weekend, the budding star promised, in third person, that he and the Boston Celtics will be champions by the end of this season.

“We’re going to win the finals this year,” Tatum said Saturday, via NBA on ESPN. “February 16th, Jayson Tatum said we’re going to win the finals this year.”

Tatum is putting together a solid second season, even if his Celtics haven’t quite figured out how to maximize their hodgepodge of talented wings. But apparently, Tatum has overwhelming confidence that the Celtics, who are fourth in the east (6.5 games back from the Bucks), are going to get their act together in the coming weeks.

Interestingly enough, guard Kyrie Irving participated in the All-Star game after skipping two games heading into the break due to a knee injury. He could have spent the break resting that knee. Instead, he participated, which seemed like a bad idea, as Irving can never seem to beat his injury issues.

Aside from Irving’s decision to play, perhaps there’s reason for optimism with the Celtics. Boston played well without Irving during those two games, a pair of wins. Perhaps as Tatum gains confidence and Gordon Hayward becomes more comfortable in his return from injury, they can help Irving lead a charge to the NBA Finals. They certainly have the requisite talent to win the East — it’s just that they have yet to realize that talent as a consistent and cohesive unit.

But then they would probably see the Golden State Warriors. The Celtics would have to be an entirely different team by the playoffs, if they want to beat Golden state.