He was uncertain before the meeting, but Jaylen Brown confirmed that Jayson Tatum did not want to miss this duel against Dallas. The Celtics winger knows those games against other MVP candidates count double…
“Yes, as a competitor, duels like these – against another very good team, against one of the best players in the league, it’s important”he confirmed after his 37 points at 11/24, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. “Especially when we don’t have the opportunity to face them very often.”
Opposite, Luka Doncic still did his usual job (42 points at 17/28, 9 assists, 8 rebounds with 5 ball losses) but the Celtics were much better armed collectively. On a mission, Jayson Tatum thus put the baskets he needed, punctuating his superb performance with a big counter on Luka Doncic, followed by a dark look…
“I told him I didn’t want him to dunk” explains the Boston player. “He looked at me like, ‘Did you really think I was going to dunk?’ »
For Joe Mazzulla, his player ticks all the boxes in the MVP race.
“His ability to respond when the time is right. His ability to make everyone around him better. We can count on him every night.”, summed up the coach. Indeed, that is the definition of an MVP.
| 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 | 17 | 37 | 47.3 | 35.6 | 86.8 | 0.8 | 6.8 | 7.6 | 4.7 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 30.2 |
| Total | 382 | 34 | 45.7 | 38.1 | 84.6 | 0.9 | 5.8 | 6.7 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 21.3 | |
