NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS VS. HEAT

September 27, 2020

Jayson Tatum

Boston Celtics

Game 6: Postgame

Miami Heat 125, Boston Celtics 113

Q. As you grow into this role, you're an All-NBA player now, you're going to have these expectations moving forward of being the primary option on this team. What did you learn from this series that you're going to carry into next year as you continue to grow in this role?

JAYSON TATUM: It's not easy. It's tough. But if you want those expectations and you want to be that guy that's capable of doing those things, you got to go through some tough things, some up and downs, some stuff I can learn from. I feel I can learn a lot moving forward from this season, this series. I'll grow from it.

Q. You guys were up six, nine minutes left, and then they just put it on you. One, what happened? Two, why continuously were they able to take games away from you down the stretch?

JAYSON TATUM: I don't know. They're a good team. Got to give them credit. They played well the whole series. Unfortunately, we couldn't take advantage of a lot of the opportunities that we were up. It's just unfortunate.

Q. How different was this run? I know that you guys are in the bubble and dealing with all of that. I feel like two years ago you guys were playing with house money. This time this was where you were expected to be.

JAYSON TATUM: Yeah, you kind of answered it. My first year, there wasn't too many expectations. We were young. People didn't know what to expect. A couple guys were hurt. This year we had a lot of expectations. So, yeah, you kind of answered it in asking.

Q. Do you guys need to get tougher?

JAYSON TATUM: Do we need to get tougher? No. No, we don't need to get tougher. It's just kind of unfortunate. Some leads we gave up. Some missed shots. Every game was close. But get tougher? No, we don't need to get tougher.

Q. In terms of the East, Milwaukee's going to be back. Brooklyn has KD. It just seems like once it reboots, it starts all over again. How tough is that to make you think that maybe you guys might have blown an opportunity here?

JAYSON TATUM: I don't look at it like that. Obviously, we don't know what's going to happen with the dynamic of our team or any team. So that's hard to answer that question when you don't know who is going to be here next year.

The league is going to be better. A lot of key guys were hurt this year. But I can't really answer that question. Don't know who is going to be on our team next year. You'll have to ask me next season.

Q. Having been through this whole experience and making it this far, what did it show you about where you guys still do need to get better and what areas you need to improve in in terms of the players you have now and maybe even adding pieces in the future?

JAYSON TATUM: I believe in this group. I think we were capable. We had more than enough to get the job done. We just let a couple slip away. Got to give credit to them. They played great. But I really loved and enjoyed playing on this team. It was a lot of fun. A lot of guys got so much better this year and throughout the season, so much better from last season. So just to see guys continue to grow and get better, it's a lot of fun. It was fun this year.

Q. It's a little ways out, but the Celtics will have the opportunity to offer you an extension this summer. Is that something you would be interested in? Just your thoughts on kind of staying in Boston long term.

JAYSON TATUM: That's a tough question to answer. I ain't even thought about that yet. I was just focused on this season. Like you guys know, that's a process the front office and my agent have to talk about it. But I'm not thinking about that right now. We just lost a series and I'm just thinking about the guys in that locker room and the game. That's what I'm thinking about. So stuff like that, when it happens, if it happens, that's not really my concern right now. I'm not even thinking about that. Just trying to think about the great season we had and the great players, great guys I was around. This was a hell of a year and I enjoyed it and I'm appreciative of everybody. But at the end of the day, this was fun. I'm not really thinking about the other stuff right now.