Jayson Tatum plays like Boston's best player in opener versus 76ers
In their highly anticipated season debut, the Boston
Celtics opened their season with a 105-87 victory over the young and talented Philadelphia
76ers. Their leading player put up an impressive stat line of 23 points, nine
rebounds and three assists in just 29 minutes of action. Yet, that players name is not Kyrie Irving or
Gordon Hayward. It’s Jayson Tatum.
The 20-year-old forward out of Duke University
finished third in rookie of the year voting last year and followed up
his impressive season with a dominant performance from start to finish. He got
off to an early start scoring nine of the teams first 11 points and never looked
back.
In a night that was centered around the returns of all stars Irving and Hayward, the two received massive ovations during
the announcements of the starting lineups at TD Garden. However, the two
players combined to shoot just 6-26 from the field and scored a combined 14
points.
Both players will find their grooves and are too
talented not to, but Tatum looked as if he was the veteran all star. After
getting hot early in the game, he showed that he was not shy of any moment either
as he finished off the first half by hitting a last second shot over All NBA
defender Robert Covington. He is becoming more and more polished by the day.
Yet despite nearly dropping Covington and hitting the
last second fade away shot, this wasn’t his best shot of the night. In the second
half, Tatum was matchup one on one with Joel Embiid on the perimeter. He
attempted to cross him up at first with no success until he backed up and tried
again. The next time he gave it a shot, he found enough separation to bank in
his 25-foot jump shot with the shot clock expiring. After making this shot he
stared down Embiid and winked at him as if to say, “do you have anything to say
to me?”
Whether it was Embiid, Covington or any other player on the 76ers, it simply didn’t matter. Jayson looked like the best player on the court from start to finish and if that continues, how do you beat this team? They have the defensive toughness to match any team in the league, the depth, the stardom and if Tatum plays up to the likes of Kyrie and Gordon on a consistent basis then they’ll simply have too much firepower.
It was only the first game of the year, but Tatum
certainly didn’t look like the teams third or fourth option
but rather the first.
Photo; NBAE/GETTY IMAGES
