After historic career night, Jayson Tatum is hungry for more

The stars were aligned nicely for a big night for Jayson Tatum and the Celtics on Saturday evening. A defensively-challenged Pelicans squad was not only playing the second night of a back-to-back, but they were missing their top defensive pieces in Derrick Favors, Jrue Holiday and Kenrich Williams due to injury/rest. Facing a hungry Celtics team in the midst of a three-game losing streak at the Garden seemed like a probable loss anyway for New Orleans but nothing was guaranteed for a team that had won eight of their last 11 overall.

Good teams and good players take care of business in games like this against overmatched competition but what Tatum and the Celtics did in the midst of a 140-105 blowout win on Saturday night was as promising a response as could be hoped for in the wake of a three-game slide. Not only did the C’s tie their season-high with 140 points, the most points of the Brad Stevens era, but they also did it with Tatum crushing his career-high of 41 points in a compact 30 minutes on 16-of-22 shooting.

"Shots were going in," Tatum said. "Felt good. Felt like we played with a purpose today from the beginning of the game. I felt we did our job."

That’s quite the understatement for Tatum amid becoming the first Celtic player in team history to produce 41 points and six 3-pointers while shooting 72 percent from the field. Those six makes from deep were a season-high and helped him become the youngest player since Antoine Walker to notch a 40-spot as a Celtic.

"Obviously, it feels good for sure, but, you know, I never get high or too low if I play well or I don't," Tatum said. "I feel like I have a long way to go. The guys I look up to, they have nights like this more often than not. Obviously, it feels good, but I just want to try and do it more often and be consistent. Just continue to get better. Tonight, I have to forget about it and move on to the next one."

The most impressive part about Tatum’s night was not just the scoring total but the efficiency. He became just the third Celtic in franchise history to score 40+ points in 30 minutes or less, joining Tommy Heinsohn and Larry Bird with the milestone. The career-high would have been much higher if not for a blowout score that allowed Brad Stevens to rest Tatum and most of the starters for the entire fourth quarter after erupting for 114 points through three.

“I just think he’s going to be ever-improving,” Stevens said of Tatum. “He had a couple of really good finishes with both hands early in the game, but he also had the right mind-set of attack. It helps when you start off these 40-point games with a couple layups, which he got. 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. But the finishing is going to be really important and we’ve talked a lot about how best to do that, but I think he’s had a great year. But I think he can get better.”

The most encouraging part of Tatum’s performance though was the fact he wasn’t openly hunting points until his career-high was in reach and it was a race against the clock in a blowout game to hit the 40 points. Everyone across the board short of Jaylen Brown had an efficient night for Boston’s key rotation parts, from Gordon Hayward (19 points, +38) to Enes Kanter (22 points, 19 rebounds in just 23 minutes).

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

With 74 points in the paint, the C’s saw an overmatched rookie center in Jaxson Hayes and a fatigued supporting cast and went right at them from the jump, piling up 74 points in the paint amid the best scoring effort of the Brad Stevens era. With rumblings swirling about the team falling back to earth, this was the type of team play that puts a stop to those quickly.

“We were really focused, obviously, after the three straight losses,” Kanter said. “It was tough for us. I think we watched a lot of clips and went to the basics and said we’re just going to play with more effort. We were able to play with focus and we just went out there and had fun.”

Amid the busiest month of the season, playing efficient is going to be essential for the Celtics to maintain their legs amid the grind of playing every other night. With the C’s setting season records with no one playing over 30 minutes on the entire roster it was close to the perfect night for a team that looked like it was running on fumes in the second half against the Sixers on Thursday.

“There was not a lot of panic in our building over the last three games,” Stevens said. “We would have liked to have played better in Washington, San Antonio. In Philly I thought we did a lot more good things than bad, so we felt like we were headed in the right direction. This morning when we came to work it felt like we were going to be ready to go tonight. That doesn’t always mean you’re going to play well. That doesn’t always mean the ball is going to go in the basket. We just have to get ready for Chicago and try to do it again.”