Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum on Sunday rose to rarefied air during his team’s Game 3 Eastern Conference semifinals win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Tatum led the Celtics with 33 points in a 106-93 affair at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
Tatum also hit what was arguably an early dagger to put his team up 104-89 with just over two minutes left in the contest.
JAYSON TATUM BEATS THE SHOT CLOCK FOR THE DAGGER ‼️🤯 pic.twitter.com/NIOhMBbGfR
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) May 12, 2024
Tatum’s 33-point outing was the 25th 30-point game of his playoff career. He became just the third player in franchise history to reach the milestone. The other two? Hall-of-Famers Larry Bird and John Havlicek.
Celtics with 25+ 30-point playoff games:
Larry Bird
John Havlicek
Jayson TatumThat's it. pic.twitter.com/CEpoKdVQqN
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 12, 2024
What made Tatum’s accomplishment extra impressive is that he did it in his age-26 season. Bird didn’t hit the mark until the 1986 NBA Finals when he was 29 years old. Havlicek was already a 34-year-old playing in his 12th season before achieving the same feat.
Bird finished his postseason career with 43 30-point games, while Havlicek had 30.
Tatum’s Celtics have made the playoffs in every single year of his seven-year career so far. The Duke alum has played in 102 playoff games and counting.
Based on how stacked the Celtics’ roster appears to be for the foreseeable future, Tatum looks poised to break Bird’s all-time record.
But for Celtics fans, the only stat that really matters is Tatum’s number of championship rings. Boston took one more step toward getting Tatum his first with the team’s Game 3 win over the Cavaliers.
