Celtics' Jayson Tatum views return to NBA Finals as second chance - ESPN

BOSTON — After coming up short in his first trip to the NBA Finals two years ago, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum said Saturday that he views this return to the league's championship round as a second chance at achieving his ultimate goal as a player.

«It's a lot that myself, and we can learn from that experience being in the Finals, and this time, this go-around is a lot different,» Tatum said after Saturday's practice at the team's facility, its second in a row after a break following sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. «Obviously, we've been there before, we came up short. And a great opportunity to make it to the Finals again. You don't always get a second chance, so really just looking at it as a second chance and trying to simplify things as much as we can.

»It's another series that we gotta win."

Playing through a wrist injury during that series, Tatum averaged 21.5 points but shot just 31.5% from 2-point range, including going 6-for-18 from the field in a Game 6 loss here at TD Garden, as the Golden State Warriors went on to celebrate their fourth championship of the Stephen Curry era on Boston's home floor.

It has taken two years for the Celtics to get a chance to avenge that result, after losing in seven games in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat — again seeing their season end at home in Boston — after Tatum sprained his ankle in the opening moments of that loss, helping prevent Boston from becoming the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff series.

Now, though, Boston finds itself back — and does so against a familiar foe in Kyrie Irving, whom Tatum spent the first two years of his career playing alongside while