Damn phone woke me up buzzing like crazy this morning. Noticed ESPN alert blinking but couldn’t see stats properly without my glasses on. Grabbed coffee first – can’t function before caffeine hits. Remembered I promised folks an update on Tatum’s last game quick.
The Annoying Hunt Begins
Opened ESPN app on my phone like usual. Tapped Celtics section, found the game recap box. Score was there, highlights were there… but Tatum’s points? Nope. Just said “led the team” like that helps anybody. Swore under my breath. Wasted five minutes scrolling that useless recap.
Felt lazy but switched to laptop. Bigger screen, right? Went straight to NBA dot com this time. Found the box score page easy enough. Scanned down the Celtics players… Brown 26 points, Porzingis 18… where’s Tatum? Had to check twice. Found him way down. Listed like this:
- MIN: 38
- FGM-A: 8-21
- 3PM-A: 2-7
- FTM-A: 4-4
- REB: 11
- AST: 8
- STL: 1
- PTS: 22
Making Sense of the Mess
Okay, so 22 points. He shot like crap honestly – 8 out of 21? Ouch. But saw he grabbed 11 boards and dished out 8 dimes. Almost a triple-double night but just missed it. Stats kinda hidden unless you squint at that tiny table though. Why not just say “22 Pts, 11 Reb, 8 Ast” big and bold? Annoying.
Wanted his exact shooting numbers for the blog. That NBA dot com table looks like ancient tax forms. Almost missed the “2-7” from deep and the perfect free throws (4 for 4). Good he got those, helped his scoring night not be a total disaster with that low FG%.
Why This Bothers Me
Seriously, finding this basic stuff shouldn’t feel like solving a puzzle. Both big league sites bury the actual performance details you want fast. Either useless fluff recaps or tables only geeks enjoy. Just tell people plainly: How many points? How many assists? Simple. Feels like they don’t care about fans who just want quick stats without digging through spreadsheets.
Ended up saving the table myself anyway. Copied it into my notes app for the blog post. Not perfect, but got the job done. Like finding a lost sock behind the dryer – frustrating but finally got it. Next time maybe I just wait for those stat-bot accounts to tweet it out. Less headache.
