Boston Celtics: Jayson Tatum breaks history with THIS statistic in game 5

The Boston Celtics find themselves alive for at least one more game after Jayson Tatum’s historic game 5 performance.

We all knew the Boston Celtics weren’t going to go away from this series without a fight, and game 5 strengthened this notion. Despite being down 3-1, Beantown stayed composed and resilient, especially in the second half, and wound up attaining victory number two of these Eastern Conference Finals, leaving them to fight for at least one more game in 2019-20.

They say only the strong survive, and the Cs proved to be the stronger team, at least on Friday, as they ended the exhibition with the largest point differential yet from this best-of-seven series (121-108).

Leading the way were the usual suspects consisting of Jaylen Brown (28 points), Kemba Walker (15 points, seven assists), Marcus Smart (12 points, eight assists), as well as Daniel Theis, who dropped in an impressive 15 point, 13 rebound, three block performance.

However, of all those who rose their games to higher levels in game 5, no one’s performance seemed to shine as bright as their 22-year-old All-Star wing, Jayson Tatum.

Already producing at career per-game highs in this year’s postseason (25.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.2 blocks), the All-NBA talent once again took his game up another notch, finishing this elimination exhibition with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists.

Now, while this stat-line already appears stellar on the surface, when realizing its historical impact, his performance begins to get even more impressive.

Pointed out by Max Lederman of NBC Sports Boston, with Tatum’s stat line from game 5 he has become the first player at his age in NBA history to have recorded five career postseason games with 25+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 5+ assists, four of which came during this year’s playoff run.

If the Boston Celtics want to become the 14th team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the Conference Finals — three of which were Cs teams — they’ll need their franchise player in Tatum to continue having awe-inspiring performances such as Saturday and, more specifically the level of play we saw from him in the second half.

Congratulations on breaking history, Jayson. In a year as horrid as this, you’ve managed to become one of its lone bright spots.