Joe Mazzulla, Jayson Tatum Not Concerned With Celtics Star’s Usage

BOSTON — Finding something negative about the Celtics feels like nitpicking at this point, but there’s a growing concern about how much basketball Jayson Tatum has played over the last three years.

Outside the locker room, that is.

The Celtics’ blowout victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night provided a rare opportunity for interim coach Joe Mazzulla to cut Tatum’s night short, doing so at just 29 minutes. Considering a sub-30 minute night is a rarity for Boston’s star, Mazzulla was asked whether it came due to concern over the fact Tatum is averaging the second most minutes per game (37.3) in the NBA this season.

“Me, personally? No,” Mazzulla responded. “Because I spend every day with him. I see what he’s done all summer, I see what he’s done all preseason and I see what he does every single day. But yes, if you can get opportunities like this you take advantage of them.

The Celtics’ minutes were fairly evenly distributed across the board Wednesday, as only Jaylen Brown and Derrick White eclipsed the 30-minute total, while Blake Griffin and Justin Jackson had the lightest workloads with eight and seven minutes respectively.

The short night at the office didn’t exactly bother Tatum.

“It’s good to mix it up a bit,” Tatum said postgame. “These 47-minute nights I’ve been having — and overtime games, it’s good to be able to rest in the fourth quarter. It let’s some of the guys who don’t always get an opportunity to play.”

The 24-year-old has played a ton of basketball over the last three years, with the NBA’s bubble, an Olympic Gold medal run and the Celtics’ NBA Finals run all adding to his plate. Knowing that Boston would be in it for the long haul, Tatum used the summer to prepare for the high-minute nights he’s faced this season. But, his high usage totals stem from something a lot more simple.

“I just want to play,” Tatum said. “I love the game, I love playing. I want to play every game. Those things go hand in hand. I feel great. My body feels so much better than it did at this point last season, you know last year at this time I was essentially dealing with a lot more.”

The Celtics will roll into the NBA All-Star break with the top record in the Eastern Conference, with just 23 games separating them from that point in the NBA Playoffs. As is the case with other starters on the team, they’ll likely want to put a plan in place to keep Tatum as strong as possible for another postseason run.