Tatum's Career Night Another Sign Of Young Star's Development
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Jayson Tatum continues to get better and better in his third NBA season, and his endless potential was on full display during Boston's 119-93 win over the Charlotte Hornets. Tatum did just about anything he wanted on the TD Garden floor Sunday night, and it wasn't just on the offensive end.
Make so mistake, Tatum dominated on that end of the floor. He scored a career-best 39 points in the Celtics victory, with his vast array of moves on full display for all to see. The forward used his inside-out game for one of his most efficient evenings of the season, opening his monster evening by attacking in the paint. By the end of the night, he was knocking down big shots from deep.
Tatum shot 15-for-29 from the floor and 4-for-9 from three-point land. He had that look in his eyes throughout Sunday night's contest, never relenting when it was clear that he was the owner of Boston's hot hand. He absolutely dominated in the fourth quarter, scoring 22 points on 9-for-13 shooting in the finale frame. He was unstoppable as the Celtics added to their lead, scoring 16 of Boston's first 19 points to start the final quarter. Tatum alone outscored the Hornets by six points in the quarter.
It was quite the show for anyone to watch, and Tatum's teammates had no problem sitting back and deferring to Boston's red-hot scoring machine.
"He was on fire," point guard Kemba Walker said of Tatum. "Me, personally, I love to watch it. I know what it feels like to be in that kind of zone, so I was just excited. I just wanted to keep getting him the basketball, to tell you the truth. I just kept telling him, 'Just keep on shooting. Try to get 40.' That's what it was about. When you're feeling like that, you just have to keep letting them go."
There was no doubt that Tatum was Boston's No. 1 scoring option on Sunday, a role he took by the horns and just kept going. It's that star-like mentality that has everyone clamoring over what could/will be with Tatum, even though the present is pretty darn good too.
"It's early. Nobody ain't seen nothing yet. He's coming. He's coming strong," Walker continued. "He's a future All-Star in this league and I'm looking forward to watching him grow continuously. As a player he's definitely going to be one of the best in this league one day."
Tatum himself remained humble after his offensive explosion, crediting his teammates for setting some quality screens to get him open lanes to the hoop. To his credit, Tatum finished at the rim, something that was escaping him early in the season.
"I was getting to the basket. Started inside-out, and once a couple go in, maybe some post-ups and layups, it opens up the rest of the floor," he said.
While we've come to see these offensive explosions from Tatum, Sunday was one of his best all-around games since coming into the league. He pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds for the first 30/10 game of his career, and he added three blocked shots. Two of those rejections came in the second quarter, as the C's erased a seven-point deficit to take control of the game.
While much of the attention was on Tatum's ability to put the ball in the cup, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens highlighted his defense after the game.
"I can't believe it's not talked about more, how good he is defensively," Stevens told reporters. "I think, for whatever reason, that gets lost in the shuffle. How much effort he's been playing with all year has been like — he's really become a great defender. His length. He chases balls, he challenges shots. He gets his hands on balls or keeps them in their mind that he's behind them with that length. And then he's a great rebounder from the wing.
"He's a really good defender. He's a big reason why our defense is where it is as a team and we need him to keep continuing to be at that level," added Stevens.
"I've said it before, I'm trying to be one of the best players in the league on both ends of the floor," said Tatum. "Guys like [Paul George] and Kawhi [Leonard], they dominate both ends. So I've been focusing a lot this year trying to match my intensity on offense with my intensity on defense."
We know Tatum can score in bunches, and he's getting better at his efficiency on the offensive end. The fact that he's now playing some solid defense to go with his offensive eruptions is another sign of his all-around progression toward becoming a superstar.
