Boston Celtics: Jayson Tatum NBA’s second-half MVP

There aren’t many players in the NBA right now who are playing better ball than Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum. In fact, he’s been one of the hottest players on the court since play resumed after the All-Star break.

Tatum is averaging the seventh-most points per game in the entire league since the All-Star break according to NBA.com’s advanced stats, putting up 27.6 points a game while also adding 7.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.1 steals in those 20 games, shooting 50.1% overall and 41.5% from beyond the arc.

Even more recently, Tatum has been the catalyst for Boston’s six-game winning streak. Tatum has dropped 53 and 44 points in two of those six games, and he’s averaging a whopping 32.7 points to go along with nine rebounds and four assists in that stretch. Over those six games, Tatum is shooting lights-out from three, connecting on 46.8% of his shots from distance. He’s also made 53.6% of his overall shots and 90.9% of his free throws.

You could argue that Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors, Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz, Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, or Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers deserve to be the “second half MVP” of the NBA season.

My vote goes to Tatum, though.

Boston was not in a great place heading into the All-Star Game. Granted, the Celtics ended up winning four-straight games to close out the first half of the season, and that helped them claw their way back above .500 right before the midway point. That was short lived, however, as the Celtics would go on to lose six of their first eight games after the break and fall back to two games below .500 after a 121-119 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Not even a week later, Boston again dropped to two games under .500 after losing a heartbreaker to the Dallas Mavericks at home to close out the month of March.

Things were looking pretty bleak for the Boston Celtics at that point. That’s when Tatum kicked it into high gear.

Over his last nine games, the 23-year-old has averaged nearly 30 points a game (29.3) and has led the Celtics in scoring in seven of those nine contests. He hasn’t just been dumping in points, though, as he’s led the team in rebounding in five of those nine games, and he’s averaging 3.6 assists in that span, too.

How have the Boston Celtics fared in that stretch? They’ve won all but one of those nine contests and now sit five games above .500, their best record since they were 8-3 back on January 15th.

Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart have been playing very well lately, too, and Robert Williams has been a major boost ever since he was inserted into the starting lineup. Kemba Walker had arguably his best game of the season on Saturday night when he totaled 26 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals against the Warriors.

It hasn’t just been a one-man show for the Celtics over the last few weeks, but it’s undeniable that Boston’s improved play started with this recent tear by Tatum.

The Jazz were already in a great spot before the All-Star break, and Donovan Mitchell has a strong supporting cast around him. For as incredible as Joel Embiid has been playing lately, the same could be said about him in Philly. Doncic has also been exceptional, but he also has Kristaps Porzingis to support him, and the Mavs as a team have been struggling as of late.

All of those players have been having stellar second halves of the season, but none of them have had to pull their teams out of the gutter like Tatum has. Again, Tatum has had help, but he’s been playing at an MVP level lately, and the Boston Celtics have soared because of it.

It’s easy to forget that Tatum is just 23 and is only in his fourth year in the league. He’s still really only scratching the surface of what he can become.

If the last three weeks are any indication, Tatum not only deserves the “second half MVP” title right now, but a league MVP trophy could very well be in his future in the next few years.

For now, he’ll have to settle for being recognized for his amazing play over the last few weeks.