Pacers potential playoff opponents preview: Boston Celtics
By Tony East
Small Forward Matchup: Bojan Bogdanovic v Jayson Tatum
Break out your scopes and your rifles and head down to the gun range, because what we have here is a face-off between two snipers.
Tatum has been a revelation this year in Boston. The Duke product is shooting 43.4 percent from deep after not proving to be much of a shooter during his NCAA days. But that isn’t all. He’s finishing 62 percent of his looks at this rim, an efficient figure, and he plays solid defense for someone with his level of experience. Hell, he is probably already a better defender than Bogdanovic.
Bojan is a worse three-point shooter at just 39.5 percent, and he’s a worse defender, too. But the Croatian is better off the dribble than Tatum and is finishing better around the basket; McMillan loves to run plays that get Bojan the ball headed towards the rim.
This one is really close. Truly, I would say it is a coin flip. In a vacuum, I would put advantage nobody. But Bojan made his worst individual play of the season against the Celtics, and that might be centered in his mind were this series to happen, which could negatively affect his play.
(Incredibly slight) Advantage: Celtics