Celtics star Jayson Tatum named East’s Player of the Week
After tying a franchise record Friday night, the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. It is Tatum’s third Player of the Week honor of the 2020-21 season, and his second in the last month alone.
The honor also makes Tatum the first Celtics player to earn the weekly award three times in a single season since Kevin Garnett in 2007-08.
The 23-year-old Tatum averaged an NBA-best 42.7 points on 54.4 percent shooting (and over 59 percent from three-point range), 6.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game throughout the past week, which included wins over Charlotte and San Antonio before Sunday’s loss to the Blazers. He produced 30-plus points, five plus assists, and shot at least 50.0% from the field in each of his last three games, marking the longest such streak by a Celtics player since Larry Bird in 1987-88.
But the honor was almost certainly won on that aforementioned 60-point effort last Friday.
In that massive comeback overtime win over the Spurs, the fourth-year pro shot 20-of-37 from the floor, matching Larry Bird’s franchise record for most points scored in a single game. It was Tatum’s second 50-point game in the month of April, making him the first Celtics player in franchise history to produce multiple 50-point games in a single season.
The Celtics will get back to work Wednesday night against the Magic.
