A Look Back At Jayson Tatum's Most Epic Performances
BOSTON (CBS) -- Jayson Tatum was an absolute stud for the Boston Celtics on Sunday, scoring 54 points in a showdown with the Brooklyn Nets. Given the national stage and the competition, with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the other side of the ball, it was the finest performance of Tatum's young career.
Tatum is now up to four 50-point games in his regular season career, which matches Larry Bird for the Celtics franchise record. (You'll hear that a few times moving forward.) Tatum just turned 24 last week, so chances are he'll take that record for himself sometime in the near future. He also owns two other 50-point games in his postseason career.
What puts Tatum's 54-point showing on Sunday above the rest was that he was not just a volume scorer for the Celtics. He hit plenty of his own shots, but he also showed off some elite decision-making to set up his teammates. He only had three assists, but he consistently passed out of double teams and got the ball moving on the Celtics offense, leading to open looks elsewhere on the court.
That has been one of the biggest parts of Tatum's evolution this season, and makes him even more dangerous on the court. It also helps that he can slash through those double teams and score seemingly at will at the moment. Just about everything is coming easy for the budding superstar, so no one will be very surprised when Tatum logs his next 50 burger.
His next shot will come Wednesday night when the C's visit the Charlotte Hornets, giving us a few days to look back at his other 50-point performances.
April 30, 2021: 60 Points In Comeback Win Over Spurs
This was Tatum's biggest scoring game, tying Bird's single-game franchise record.
The Celtics were terrible to start the game, scoring only 16 points in the opening frame. Tatum scored 14 of those points.
That would not be his best quarter of the evening, though. Tatum scored 21 in the fourth as he helped Boston mount a 32-point comeback, the largest comeback in team history. He was sitting on 50 points at the end of regulation and scored 10 more in overtime, including two free throws that sealed the win with four seconds left.
Tatum hit 20 of his 37 shots, including five of seven from three-point range, and scored 15 of his points at the free throw line. This followed his 53-point game a few weeks prior, making Tatum the first player in Celtics history to have multiple 50-point games in one season
April 9, 2021: 53 Points In Win Over Timberwolves
Three weeks before needing a truly epic performance from Tatum to erase a big deficit against a bad team in the Spurs, the Celtics needed a truly epic performance from Tatum to erase a big deficit against a bad team in the Timberwolves. Boston was down by 17 in the third quarter, but then Tatum erupted for 18 points in the fourth and overtime. He missed a jumper at the end of regulation, which gave him some extra time to add to his point total.
He finished his evening 16-for-25 from the floor and 6-for-10 from three-point land, hitting 15 of his 16 free throws. At 23 years, 37 days, Tatum became the youngest Celtics player to score 50 in a game, besting (you guessed it) Larry Bird, who did it at the age of 26 years and 113 days in March of 1983.
It was Tatum's biggest game of his career, until he went out and dropped 60 against the Spurs less than a month later.
January 23, 2022: 51 Points In Dismantling Of Wizards
Given his play in 2022, it's easy to forget that Tatum had a rough start to the season from a shooting standpoint. Those struggles were still present just six weeks ago, when Tatum went three games without hitting a three, going 0-for-17 from downtown.
Then he absolutely exploded against the Wizards, scoring 51 points in a 116-87 Boston victory. He had 31 points by halftime and 48 after three quarters, hitting the 50-point mark on a drive to the hoop with just over four minutes left in the game. He added a technical free throw to get to 51 points before checking out to a standing ovation in the nation's capital.
Tatum was 18-for-29 overall and his three-point woes disappeared that Sunday afternoon, as he knocked down nine of his 14 attempts from deep. In his 19 games since his big day in Washington, Tatum has averaged 29.4 points off 49 percent shooting overall and 38 percent from three-point land.
May 18, 2021: 50 Points Over Wizards In Play-In Game
The Celtics had to win a game just to make the real playoffs last season, but Tatum made sure that they made it with an epic play-in tournament showing. He once again owned the Washington Wizards, scoring 50 points to help Boston secure the seventh-seed in the Eastern Conference.
Tatum scored 32 of his 50 points in the second half of Boston's 118-100 win, going 14-for-32 from the floor while hitting all 17 of his free throws.
May 28, 2021: 50 Points In Boston's Only Playoff Win Over Nets
With Jaylen Brown out with a wrist injury, the Celtics didn't have much of a shot against the Nets last postseason. But Tatum made sure that Boston avoided a sweep with an epic 50-point game in Game 3, lifting the Celtics to a 125-119 win over Brooklyn on national TV.
Tatum got just about anything he wanted all game, hitting 16 of his 30 shots overall and five of his 11 from three-point range. His final points of the night came on a crossover jumper over Durant, putting the Celtics on top 122-115 with 40 seconds to go. He did a little bit of everything, dishing out seven assists while pulling down six rebounds.
Tatum became just the sixth player in Celtics history to score 50 points in the playoff game, joining Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, John Havlicek, Ray Allen and Isaiah Thomas on the illustrious list.