Wednesday night at the TD Garden was just another night at the office for the Boston Celtics and Jayson Tatum. In front of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Tatum demonstrated to the NBA world why he is going to be one of the kings of this league for the foreseeable future. Whether it was a step-back rhythm three with a hand in his face or a drive to the basket through traffic, Tatum has had it all working with the Celtics flying high at the top of the Eastern Conference so far this season.
There was arguably no other team that had quite the rollercoaster of an offseason like Boston did, and through all that, Tatum has taken his most considerable leap yet into the serious MVP discussion. Tatum’s campaign last season was damaged by the slow start to the season.
To kick off this campaign, Tatum has scored 26 or more points in 18 out of the 21 games in which he has played in. In the first 15 contests of the previous season, Tatum struggled to find his rhythm, shooting just 39.9 percent from the floor, and putting up eight games where he failed to score 25 points in the first 15 contests of the 2021/22 season.
Following a win where Boston’s offense ran away with a victory against the Miami Heat, Joe Mazzulla spoke on the amount of trust he has in the Boston Celtics superstar, stating:
"“He’s just making the right play. So he’s doing a great job of reading the coverage, knowing how the defense is guarding him. Are they crowding him? Are they giving him a step? So he’s making the right play for himself and for his teammates.”"
Jayson Tatum is consistently great for the Boston Celtics
Jayson Tatum has not shot under 31 percent from the field once this season, and in the Boston Celtics campaign prior, Tatum reached that feat five times before the month of November came to a close. In the 11th month of the year this time around, the 3x All-Star recorded nine 30-point outings, including two 40-point outbursts. Only Larry Bird in March of 1986, and 1988 has produced more 30-point performances through a calendar month in the history of the most storied franchise in the NBA.
Wilt Chamberlains’ record of 19 30-point outbursts in 1962 will be a record that should stand the test of time, but for Tatum to produce two months so far during his career of nine 30-point matches at the age of 24 is quite remarkable. James Harden reached 14 games with 30 or more points in 2019 during the month of January, but the 10-time All-Star was 30 years old when he was able to accomplish that feat.
With that 49-point, 11-rebound game, Tatum became the only player in the history of the NBA to record more than one contest 45 or more points, 10 or more rebounds, and eight or more threes. Kobe Bryant and Paul George are two players that have done it in the past many years ago, but neither of them has been able to produce two games with those numbers.
His turnover count is also down, having only accumulated one game of five or more turnovers while giving the ball away five fewer times this November compared to 2021. The combination of keeping taking care of the basketball, and being aggressive while in the flow of a halfcourt offense has put Tatum on an entirely different stratosphere this season than the rest of the opposition. He is shooting over two free throws more this season at 8.2 compared to the 6.2 that he was able to produce over the entirety of the 2021/22 NBA season.
Tatum is never satisfied with any performance, and that is what makes him the player he is. Joe Mazzulla preaches consistency and never being too high or too low after a result. Each player, especially a maturing Tatum understands that the goal is not for him and Jaylen Brown to become the best duo in the NBA, the objective is to raise another banner up in the TD Garden rafters.
There is no telling how long the Boston Celtics will be able to keep this offensive consistency, but as the sample size continues to increase, it is clear, the NBA world is witnessing something special. Heading into the season, Tatum was a +1200 long-shot to win MVP, and that number has to have changed significantly given the relentless attitude the 24-year-old has come out of the gate with.
Defensively, Tatum continues to use his length to get Boston out on the break, but on the offensive end, there is hardly anyone playing the game of basketball at such a high level, but makes it look so simple at the same time. With nine double-doubles and 10 games with five or more assists on top of the three-level scoring abilities, there is just no hotter hand in the entire NBA right now than the one that dons No. 0 for the top-ranked team in the Eastern Conference.