The Celtics still have one game left before March arrives but you can count the number of players across the league on one hand that have been better than Jayson Tatum during the month of February.
Fresh off his first All-Star selection, the 21-year-old forward has emerged as a different kind of scorer for this Celtics squad as evidenced by yet another masterpiece (36 points, 13-of-21 FG) against the Blazers on Tuesday night. It was the fourth 30-point performance for the Duke product in his last eight games, largely thanks to the forward feasting from the outside (career-high eight 3-point makes) against an overmatched Blazers defense.
Career nights have seemingly come once a week for Tatum since mid-January and it’s that consistency that has turned Tatum from an All-Star caliber player to an All-NBA performer so far in 2020. A look at his February numbers make it hard to find a better two-way performer in the East over that span than probable MVP frontrunner Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Tatum splits in February (10 games)
30.3 ppg (3rd in East)
50% FG (20.2 attempts per game)
49.5% 3-pt (9.1 attempts per game)
77.2% FT (7.2 attempts per game)
7.2 RPG
3.0 APG
1.2 SPG
1.3 BPG
+10.6 Net Rating
The only scorers ahead of him for February in the East (Trae Young, Bradley Beal) play for subpar Eastern Conference teams that don’t play much defense at all. Meanwhile, Tatum has led the way to an 8-2 month for Boston despite a brutal schedule that has featured games every other day beyond the All-Star Break for a shorthanded C’s squad.
“I think he’s really doing a good job of recognizing situations,” Brad Stevens told reporters in Portland Tuesday night. “I think he’s getting more thrown at him every game and you can tell there’s a hunger to continue to improve. So I think the best part about this story is he’s had a year worthy of being named an All-Star and then he’s gotten better since he was named an All-Star. So those are usually good signs.”
Tatum’s confidence level was on full display against a Portland team on Tuesday night that simply had no answers for him on the perimeter. With a true big in Hassan Whiteside dropping back in the paint on pick-and-rolls, Tatum simply feasted from the outside on those switches. Eventually, Tatum’s makes forced Whiteside to play up more but it didn’t matter. Tatum buried those shots anyway.
JAYSON TATUM IS A PROBLEM pic.twitter.com/c2eW0lXiwr
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) February 26, 2020
Jayson Tatum ladies and gentlemen pic.twitter.com/KTXDCqttim
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) February 26, 2020
Theis/Tatum pick and roll is like if Stockton/Malone were cool pic.twitter.com/WwetBn8DmW
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) February 26, 2020