Tatum is shooting almost 75% inside the arc. His start to the season is remarkable. He usually doesn't go into all-NBA mode until February.
Defense is a little sketchy, giving up 47% shooting, against the league average of 46%, but missing your top 2 big men will do that to you.
Hands down the best start to a season in his career. A #1 seed along with his production makes him an MVP candidate.
As far as the defense, with Williams III out, Horford tonight, new bigs, and drop coverage as the primary cover it’ll be tough to have the same defensive success.
Al and Rob are the reason the switching defense worked so well, they’re exceptional. Once they’re out, they have to run a drop coverage, which leaves the pick and roll ball handler open until his defender recovers. The defensive system is very demanding on bigs especially with tons of lateral movement, defending the rim and corner shooters, and having to secure the rebound, and only a select few play defense at Al and Rob’s level.
The wings and guards are rotating well though and they’re doing a good job overall of defending their assignment. When the defense can play their optimal game, we’ll start seeing blowouts again.