{"id":11576,"date":"2017-12-09T15:04:21","date_gmt":"2017-12-09T20:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=11576"},"modified":"2017-12-09T15:37:32","modified_gmt":"2017-12-09T20:37:32","slug":"celtics-jayson-tatum-continues-amaze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2017\/12\/09\/celtics-jayson-tatum-continues-amaze\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Continues to Amaze"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Simmons<\/a><\/strong> is the favorite to win Rookie of the Year, but the Boston Celtics’\u00a0Jayson Tatum<\/a> <\/strong>has taken the league by storm.<\/p>\n

Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Continues to Amaze<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tatum, the third overall pick out of Duke<\/a> by the Boston Celtics in last June’s NBA draft, has become an important scorer for the team with the best record.<\/p>\n

The Celtics (22-5) lost last night in a tough game against the Spurs in San Antonio after a 4-1 homestand. Despite the loss, Tatum scored 20 points on 6-11 shooting from the field, to go along with 8 rebounds. Tatum entered Friday with the highest shooting percentage from beyond the arc (51.9), and he has scored 15 or more points in 15 straight games.<\/p>\n

Jaylen Brown<\/a><\/strong> and Marcus Morris<\/a><\/strong> both missed Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks but the Celtics moved to 8-0 against the Western Conference because Tatum stepped up. He scored 17 points and contributed 10 rebounds for his second career double-double.<\/p>\n

In addition, Tatum became the first Celtics’ player to score 15 or more points in 14 consecutive games since Paul Pierce<\/a><\/strong> accomplished the same feat in 1999.<\/p>\n

A Surprising Addition<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The craziest part about Tatum’s success behind the line is he was never a three-point shooter in college. In one season at Duke, Tatum shot 34.2 percent from the three-point stripe.<\/p>\n

But he has made a seamless transition to the highest level of professional basketball, adding to his game in year one while showing maturity beyond his years.<\/p>\n

At the same time as he has improved his three-point shot, Tatum has continued to shoot the ball at a high percentage from the field.<\/p>\n

In 29 games (27 starts) as a Blue Devil, Tatum had a 45.2 field goal percentage and made 50.4 percent of his two-point shots. Tatum has made 50.2 percent of his shots for Boston.<\/p>\n

Tatum can create his own offense from anywhere on the floor and has become the Celtics’ second-best scoring option.<\/p>\n

He earned his opportunity after Gordon Hayward<\/a> <\/strong>suffered an injury in the Celtics first game against the Cleveland Cavaliers and has exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>