Despite Jayson Tatum's struggles on the court, Joe Mazzulla defends him in the Celtics' loss to the Warriors

Over the past two seasons, Jayson Tatum has had more than his fair share of problems when it comes to playing against the Warriors, and these problems continued to plague him on Saturday night.

Even though the Celtics lost 123-107 to the Warriors, the All-Star was able to manage only 18 points on 21 shot attempts in 40 minutes played.

As a result of the offensive issues, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla attempted to take the pressure off his MVP candidate.

Despite Tatum's play, Mazzulla emphasized that Tatum does not need to improve it. "We must improve ourselves," he said.

Even though Andrew Wiggins was out due to an injury, the Warriors still piled up plenty of bodies in the paint for Tatum to deal with.

Mazzulla praised Tatum's performance despite his misfires from inside the arc and the perimeter. (That are Some Huge Words)

I believe he made the right play and I also believe he played patiently,” Mazzulla said after the game.

It seems to me that he is working on creating separation instead of screen, which seems to me that we need to improve on that."