For pretty much the first three months of the 2021-22 NBA season, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics looked like nothing more than a bottom-end playoff contender.
Under first-year head coach Ime Udoka, Boston boasted a 25-25 record following a January 28 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. At that point, it seemed like the play-in tournament would be the name of the game for Boston for a second consecutive season.
Since then, things have changed big time. In addition to acquiring Derrick White from the San Antonio Spurs ahead of the Feb. 10 NBA trade deadline, Boston has been playing elite basketball.
That came out in droves against Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets Sunday afternoon. With Brooklyn looking to get back in good standing, the team held a 60-58 halftime lead over the Celtics in Boston.
That’s when Tatum and Co. turned it up big-time. Boston dropped 68 second-half points to win by the score of 126-120. For his part, Tatum dropped 54 points on 16-of-30 shooting — including an 8-of-15 mark from three-point range. He out-performed Durant, who went for 37 points of his own.
For Boston, this represented the team’s 14th win in its past 16 games after starting 25-25. It also comes on the heels of a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, proving that these Celtics can go up against the big boys.
Jayson Tatum has Boston Celtics as legit NBA title contenders
Coming off his third consecutive NBA All-Star Game appearance, Tatum has been on a roll as of late. Prior to Sunday’s 54-point performance, he had taking on an even larger scoring role during Boston’s current hot streak.
- Jayson Tatum stats (past 15 games): 26.5 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 5.1 APG, 47% shooting
With Tatum acting as one of the best scorers in the game, the rest of Boston’s rotation has filled out pretty well. Jaylen Brown dropped 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting against Brooklyn — hitting what would end up being a dagger late in the fourth quarter.
Previously seen as a questionable long-term fit with Tatum, Brown has also turned it up big-time recently. The former Cal standout entered Sunday’s game averaging 29.1 points in his past nine outings. That’s simply remarkable.
As you can see, scoring has not been an issue for these Celtics during their current hot streak. That’s what makes them so dangerous given that we’re talking about a team that’s allowing the third-fewest points in the NBA and boasts the second-best defensive rating in the Association behind the Golden State Warriors.
Frustrated earlier in the season due to Boston’s defensive lapses, Marcus Smart had spearheaded a return to normalcy on defense prior to missing six games to injury back in January.
Upon his return, Boston has turned it up another level on defense. That includes giving up fewer than 100 points 10 times in the team’s past 18 games.
Even when Boston’s defense struggles like we saw against the Nets on Sunday, Tatum’s ability to go off has added another dimension to this team.
With the Eastern Conference race wide-open, Boston has looked like the best team over the past five weeks. If that continues down the stretch and into the playoffs, there’s no reason to believe that the Celtics can’t earn their first NBA Finals appearance since 2010.
More must-reads: