The Celtics have taken the season by the right end. Unlike the Sixers, they started with three wins in three matches, and Jayson Tatum is beyond reproach. And when his training does not defend, and it lets Paolo Banchero walk in the racket, Tatum makes it personal. A way to wake up his teammates but also to slow down Magic’s number 1 weapon.
“I didn’t ask permission” he commented after Boston’s victory. “We kind of let them take it easy. It doesn’t matter who it is, when any NBA players are comfortable and they’re shooting, they start playing with confidence, and then there’s a game. And that’s what happened tonight. And I felt they were too comfortable at first. So I decided to defend on him. Defense is close to my heart, like all of us here”.
“When I was a rookie, nobody made it easy for me”
The Celtics will finish the quarter 10-4, then Tatum will knock out the Magic early in the second half. He will fly over the meeting with 40 points at 14 out of 21 on shots, and if Banchero will score 23 points, it will be with a big clumsiness: 6 out of 19 on shots.
“That’s how we show respect” continues Tatum. “I’m not going to give him anything easy. I will measure myself against him. You have to get into someone whether they are 19 or 30 years old. When I was a rookie, nobody made it easy for me”.
With 31.3 average points, Tatum is already marking his territory, and he still had to answer questions about the MVP trophy. No Celtics player has won this award since… 1986! “It’s still early to talk about this, but being MVP has always been one of the goals. When I was a kid, I didn’t just want to play in the NBA. I wanted to be a champion, and get all the awards and get all the compliments, and MVP is at the top of that list. »
| Jayson Tatum | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2017-18 | BOS | 80 | 31 | 47.5 | 43.4 | 82.6 | 0.6 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 13.9 |
| 2018-19 | BOS | 79 | 31 | 45.0 | 37.3 | 85.5 | 0.9 | 5.2 | 6.0 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 15.7 |
| 2019-20 | BOS | 66 | 34 | 45.0 | 40.3 | 81.2 | 1.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 23.4 |
| 2020-21 | BOS | 64 | 36 | 45.9 | 38.6 | 86.8 | 0.8 | 6.6 | 7.4 | 4.3 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 0.5 | 26.4 |
| 2021-22 | BOS | 76 | 36 | 45.3 | 35.3 | 85.3 | 1.1 | 6.9 | 8.0 | 4.4 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 26.9 |
| 2022-23 | BOS | 1 | 39 | 65.0 | 28.6 | 77.8 | 0.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 35.0 |
| Total | 366 | 33 | 45.7 | 38.3 | 84.4 | 0.9 | 5.8 | 6.6 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 21.0 | |
