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Tatum keeps making history

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Tatum keeps making history

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The improvement in all facets of his game was obvious throughout the regular season.

Jayson Tatum increased his numbers in scoring (going from 15.7 points per game to 23.4 this season), rebounds (10.2, up from 6.7) and assists (4.6 from 1.9) to earn a trip to the NBA All-Star Game and a spot on the All-NBA third team.

In the playoffs, Tatum has been even better, producing at a high level on the big stage.

Entering Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat on Sunday night at Disney World, Tatum was averaging 25.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists while playing 40.4 minutes per game.

The Celtics haven’t had someone average a double-double in the postseason since Kevin Garnett had 12.7 points and 13.7 rebounds in six games in 2013 when they lost in the opening round to the New York Knicks. Garnett averaged 19.2 points and 10.3 rebounds the previous year when the Celtics lost to the Heat in the conference finals.

Tatum, who does not turn 23 until March 3, has put together an impressive list of accomplishments during this postseason. Here are some of those achievements, as noted by ESPN Stats & Info, Elias Sports and Celtics Stats:

With 901 career playoff points in 44 games, Tatum was tied with LeBron James for second place on the list of most postseason points by a player before his 23rd birthday. Kobe Bryant ranks first with 1,264 points.

Tatum has scored at least 20 points in 25 playoff games, including 13 this year.

He moved past Derrick Rose (22) into fourth place for most 20-point games before turning 23 years old. Bryant is the leader with 32 followed by James at 29.

When Tatum had 29 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists against the Toronto Raptors earlier this month, he became just the third player in postseason history to lead both teams in all three of those categories in a Game 7.

Larry Bird did that in the 1984 conference semifinal round against the Knicks (39 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) and James had 35 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists in the deciding game of the 2018 conference finals.

At 22 years, 192 days, Tatum is the second-youngest player to have at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a Game 7. Bryant was 21 years, 286 days when he did that on June 2, 2002.

With five games of 30 or more points in the playoffs this year, Tatum became the first Celtic to do that since Kevin McHale in 1988 and he joined Bird as being the only Celtics to have three straight playoff games with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

-Tatum is the only Celtics player to have three games of 30 points and 10 rebounds before the age of 23 (once against the Philadelphia 76ers and in Game 5 against the Heat).

Tatum is one of only three players in NBA history to have games of at least 25 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists before turning 23, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1970) and Luka Doncic (this summer).

In 44 playoff games since joining the Celtics in the 2017-18 season, Tatum has averaged 20.5 points, seven rebounds and 3.3 assists.

“He’s a super quick learner,’’ said coach Brad Stevens. “He’s just a special player.’’

Said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra: “He’s a great scorer, so if he’s able to get in open space and see some easy ones go down (it’s tough).’’

Stevens on voting

Stevens has been asking people to get out and vote during some of his press conferences at Disney World in recent months.

“I’m totally comfortable with that,’’ said Stevens of speaking out on the subject. “I think my wife (Tracy) was a political science studies person in college and from that point on, I’ve taken a great interest in politics.

“Obviously this election is really important and it means a great deal to us. But also I think it’s really important to the (players) and I think encouraging everybody to use their voice to vote is really important.

“I’m glad the NBA has taken that stand. I’m glad the coaches association has pushed that and I’m happy to be part of lending my voice to that. If that can turn out so many more people or one more person, then that’s really important.’’

Next game on Wednesday

No matter what happened in Sunday’s Game 6 between the Celtics and the Heat, the NBA’s next game won’t take place until Wednesday night.

A Celtics win over the Heat would mean a Game 7 starting at 8:30 p.m. If the Heat wrapped up the series, they would open the NBA Finals that night at 9 p.m. against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The first presidential debate takes place on Tuesday night, so the NBA probably did not want to schedule a game at that time.

jfenton@enterprisenews.com

On Twitter at @JFenton_ent



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