Boston Celtics Jayson Tatum hopes 41 point night is one of many: ‘I feel like I got a long way to go’

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2020/01/boston-celtics-jayson-tatum-hopes-41-point-night-is-one-of-many-i-feel-like-i-got-a-long-way-to-go.html



Boston Celtics Jayson Tatum hopes 41 point night is one of many: ‘I feel like I got a long way to go’



Today 11:06 PM




Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum shoots over New Orleans Pelicans' Lonzo Ball during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020, in Boston. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)



By John Karalis | JKaralis@masslive.com




BOSTON - Jayson Tatum had 206 seconds to do something he’d never done before.

His 37th point, a straight-away 3-pointer, was pulled from the bottom of the net with 3:26 to play and the Boston Celtics leading by 35 in the third quarter. His eight point burst in a little more than a minute had turned a really nice performance into a chance for his first ever 40 point game.

The crowd knew it. So did he.

His next two shots were his two worst of the night. He forced a 3 and missed with 3:00 left. He fired another with 2:38. Time was running out before he surely sat for the rest of the night. When the clocked stopped a few seconds later, Brad Stevens pulled him aside.

“(He told me) just to relax and it was going to come and keep playing,” Tatum said. "Everybody could tell that I wanted to get it, so just to take a deep breath for a second and just to go back out there.”

The reset helped. On the next possession, Tatum drove and scored. A minute later, he finished off a Kemba Walker assist to set a new career high.

And he did it with 64 seconds to spare.

“Most of his points, I feel like, were in the flow of the game,” Gordon Hayward said afterwards. “It wasn’t like he was forcing anything, which was really good. So I’m happy for him. He was able to knock down some big-time shots and get to 41. Anytime you can score 40 in this league, that’s a big number. I’m happy for him and it’s the first of many.”

That’s the hope for Tatum, one of the Celtics young centerpieces for a future the team hopes can compliment the championship tradition of generations past. Tatum and Jaylen Brown have each had monster scoring nights this season, giving Danny Ainge some ‘I told you so’ ammunition against people who had advocated for trades in the past.

Boston’s had big scorers before, though. Other players could put the ball in the basket. The key for the Tatum is to combine those stat with winning, which Boston was able to do for the first time in a week.

“It felt good. It felt like we played with a purpose today on both ends from the beginning of the game,” he said. "Starters came up and finally did our job. I know we haven’t been playing well but it felt good to start the game off right.”

41 point nights are eye-popping. Drilling side-step 3′s will make all the highlight shows, but Tatum and the Celtics were able to focus and play a complete game rather than play down to a severely undermanned New Orleans Pelicans team playing on a back-to-back. Part of why he was able to even get to 41 points was the team’s defensive effort and aggressiveness early in the game.

“It helps when you start off these 40-point games with a couple layups, which he got,” Stevens said. “A couple off his effort, a couple off bigs sealing for him. And then he got a couple of steals and now the basket feels a little bigger and some of those threes go down.”

Six threes, in total, went down for Tatum, who desperately needed a shooting night like this. The final point total was nice, but making nearly 73 percent of his shots was better.

Ok maybe not. Let’s face it, stardom isn’t always built on efficiency. Stardom is built off piling up points in bunches. It’s built by crowds expecting greatness and a player delivering in the moment.

Tatum has star potential. He might be an All-Star this season. But true stardom, that thing he’s chasing, isn’t here yet. If he’s not careful, it might never come.

Nights like this are just the beginning.

“Obviously it feels good for sure, but I never get too high or too low if I play well or if I don’t," he said. "For me, I feel like I got a long way to go, and the guys I looked up to, they have nights like this more often than not. So obviously it feels good, but just try to do it more often, be consistent, and continue to get better. After tonight you gotta forget about it and move on to the next one.”


bob
MY NOTE:  Who was telling Danny to trade Jaylen or Jayson?  Who are these people who Danny can, supposedly, say "I told you so" to?  Other than a generational talent like Anthony Davis I cannot think of a single trade rumor that suggests Danny trade either.  There was the rumors of trading our #3 pick, which turned out to be Jaylen, for Jimmy Butler but trading a pick isn't the same as trading the known quantity the pick turns into.  Who told Danny to trade either?  Turkey Gary Tanguay, the Alfred E. Neuman of Boston Sports?  This is what's known as "creating a straw man argument".

The last paragraph or two of the article are on point, though. It's about consistency for both of the two Js. Their performances in the 3 game losing streak brings that home. All-Stars can have a bad game, everybody does, but they shouldn't have two in a row and they sure as Hell shouldn't have 3 in a row, especially when one of them was against division rival Philadelphia.

.

Mr. Tatum seems to have a great attitude about his future development even though he is already doing pretty well as a young player in the NBA.

How important that he mentions that the guys he wants to emulate "have nights like this more often than not"? The really good players very rarely have the poor nights that Tatum has had on several occasions this season, and he gradually cuts down on the poor nights his stats and value to the team will continue to increase.

Nice to have him on our team!