The Boston Celtics rattled off their seventh straight win on Monday with a 130-118 victory over the Charlotte Hornets, however extending the win streak wasn’t the primary storyline that day. Jayson Tatum had an MVP-caliber efficiency towards the Hornets with a commanding 51 factors on 15-of-23 taking pictures, together with 7-of-12 from three together with 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Tatum’s monster efficiency has additional cemented his identify within the MVP dialog, in addition to the historical past books.
Together with his sport on Monday, Jayson Tatum handed Larry Fowl for probably the most 50+ level performances in Celtics Franchise historical past, and tied Kobe Bryant for probably the most 50+ level video games earlier than the age of 25. In what was a strong win for Boston, Tatum continued to show his generational skills, and did so with out operating mate Jaylen Brown by his facet; Brown continues to be sidelined with an adductor pressure.
Most 50-point video games (reg season/play-in/playoffs) in NBA historical past earlier than turning 25.
1. Wilt Chamberlain – 152. Michael Jordan – 103. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – 8Rick Barry – 8LeBron James – 86. JAYSON TATUM – 77. Bob McAdoo – 5Kobe Bryant – 5 pic.twitter.com/AxDt9ozvTa
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 16, 2023
“I feel I’ve been on report, Charlotte has all the time been one in every of my favourite locations to play on the highway,” mentioned Tatum after listening to MVP chants rain down on him from the gang at Spectrum Heart. “Simply from the gang and the environment, being in North Carolina for a 12 months [when I attended Duke]. Clearly, you see plenty of Celtics jerseys, however I see plenty of Duke jerseys as nicely. So coming house and feeling that help, it’s form of like my second house. I all the time love coming again right here and taking part in.”
Tatum has established himself in franchise historical past in addition to the hierarchy of the NBA, and has constructed a respectable argument for MVP this season. He had come near breaking Fowl’s report earlier this season towards the Miami Warmth, the place he netted 49 factors however took his foot off the fuel with lower than a minute left. In his postgame interview after the win over the Hornets, Tatum revealed somebody had reached out to him after that sport particularly.
“The factor that was going by my thoughts was after I had 49 towards the Warmth earlier this season. I took a shot and we bought the ball again, however it was like 50 seconds left, and I keep in mind…I simply waved them off. I didn’t go get the ball. Jamal Crawford texted me after the sport, and he was like ‘Man, when you’re ever that near 50, no one’s gonna keep in mind time and rating, they’re simply gonna report when you have 50 or not.’”
So, when Tatum bought that shut towards Charlotte, he refused to let the chance slide previous him once more. “So when Al bought that rebound and I used to be dribbling up the court docket, that’s what was going by my thoughts,” mentioned Tatum, “Jamal telling me ‘When you’re that near 50, go get it’, so after I had the ball and was dribbling up the court docket, I used to be very conscious.”
Whereas Tatum had a terrific particular person sport, it was the Celtics offense and passing that shone by within the win, with their skill to create offense for one another that drove the win house. The Celtics totaled 34 assists on the afternoon, along with taking pictures 46.5% from past the arc. Boston’s ball motion and shot creation had been on one other degree, and Tatum was on the coronary heart of it.
“Clearly, 51 is massive, however we performed as a staff,” mentioned Tatum. “I feel that’s what’s been actually massive for us these six or seven video games that we’ve been successful. We’ve simply been capable of get the photographs that we would like and never let the protection dictate us on offense.” That was a significant critique of final 12 months’s staff to begin the 12 months, and there have been some shades of that very same development throughout the early operating of this season as nicely.
The Celtics will face one other massive check on Thursday night time after two days off, as they return to TD Backyard to welcome the Golden State Warriors to city. This would be the second time the 2 groups will face off after the Celtics had been run off the ground towards the Warriors on the highway in December.