The Celtics practiced after their fourth consecutive blowout playoff win — this time over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1— and touched on a number of topics, including Jayson Tatum’s offensive struggles.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Joe Mazzulla concerned about Tatum’s shooting woes

Jayson Tatum’s stat line from yesterday—as well as his overall performance in the playoffs—has received a lot of attention. Tatum ended with 18 points on 7-19 shooting and 0 of 5 from three in Game 1 against Cleveland. His postseason averages now stand at 21.2 points on 40.6% shooting, with 25% coming from beyond the arc. Even if the sample sizes are small, all of those are career lows for the playoffs.

However, Joe Mazzulla saw Tatum’s performance in a different light than the reviewers. Mazzulla identified Tatum’s rebounding and screening as his two main areas of influence yesterday. Today, he stated that Tatum’s screening contributed to 1.6 points per possession in the victory last night.

Mazzulla remarked, “So, that would be the greatest offense in the history of the world.” In addition, he had three blocks, eighteen points, and eleven possible assists. We need him to be able to take what the defense gives him and find ways to influence the game on both sides of the court, and I believe he’s doing a terrific job at that.

In agreement, Jrue Holiday pointed out that Tatum plays a more versatile position in this offense than just being a scorer.

Holiday remarked, “I think he’s becoming a playmaker—or he’s being a playmaker.” “He is making a lot of the right plays, not that he is being a sacrificial lamb.”

You’ve got to ask him, Holiday replied when asked how Tatum is managing the shooting slump. He’s creating plays, and we’re winning. Therefore, it appears that he is managing it well.

Payton Pritchard went so far as to refer to the people critiquing Jayson Tatum in the box score as “casuals.”

“While bad shooting nights happen to people, what is he doing?” stated Pritchard. “He made some excellent plays on defense. He made the simple passes that resulted in assists; he grabbed a lot of rebounds—11 in all. Only the casuals believe that it’s all about the shots. He can influence the game in so many different ways.

2. Payton Pritchard breaks down his buzzer-beating heaves

Pritchard had his most prolific offensive game of the playoffs in yesterday night’s victory, scoring 16 points and making 4 of 10 three-pointers.

Donovan Mitchell said that his game-winning three-pointer at the conclusion of the third quarter was a crucial play, and Pritchard mentioned it during practice.

Pritchard remarked, “I adore buzzer-beating moments.” “Go down, take it off the rebound; this is an energy play. It, in my opinion, altered the game’s momentum and perhaps deflated them. You must thus always shoot.

Pritchard has always been a risk-taker, and as long as he has the chance, he will stay that way.

As previously stated, Pritchard added, “I’ll let the front office know if you want to dive into percentages and look at what’s really good shots, what I’m shooting on those, and take those away.” “They are capable of managing that. That’s a basketball play, so even though it’s full court, we still need to make those shots. And if that gets through? There are two more points there.

3. Kristaps Porzingis gets shots up

Though nothing particularly noteworthy, Kristaps Porzingis practiced in front of the cameras for the first time since he injured his soleus on April 29. Even if the shooting drill wasn’t particularly hard, his continued presence at practice is definitely encouraging.

When asked about Porzingis’s improvement, Joe Mazzulla replied that he was unaware of any updates.

“Until recently, I was unaware that he was out there,” he remarked.

Is his gait entirely typical? The judge is you.