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“I told Jayson when he was in high school, he gonna sell shoes, he gonna be an All-Star,” Durant told Yahoo Sports last week. “So for him to do this? I expect him to do this; it’s no surprise to me. I expect him to be a Hall of Famer, 30,000 points, three-time Olympian. I expect that out of him because that’s how talented he is. That’s how great he is.”

ConstableGeneva wrote:

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Tatum finishes 6th in MVP voting, garnering 3rd most 4th place votes and 3rd most 5th place votes.

hugepatsfan wrote:Signature performance for the moment. Kind of sucks that if we lose game 7 that game becomes really just a footnote, but wow what a game.

Jayson Tatum is no longer 19 years old. He is 24, and he has already experienced a lifetime of NBA playoff games for the Boston Celtics, but none so legendary as Friday's performance with his season on the line...

"I could come up here and pout, be sad, and I'm sure there would be a big story about how we're defeated, and I don't believe us," he said. "You can't change what happened. It stinks, for sure, but it's 3-2, and it's the first to four. There's no sense in being sad ... because that's not going to do anything for the next game. Always be optimistic and believe in yourself, believe in the group, that we can win the game on Friday."

So, he did, fully realizing his all-time great potential in a 108-95 win to force Game 7 in Boston on Sunday.

...

Only, Tatum withstood Antetokounmpo's barrage and delivered the knockout. He scored Boston's next 10 points, half of which he delivered with contested jumpers as the shot clock expired, to push the lead back to 95-87. Milwaukee could not get off the mat. Four straight Tatum free throws amped the lead to 13 inside of two minutes and gave him 46 points on the night. The Bucks threw in the towel and pulled their starters.

"You've got to give him credit," said Antetokounmpo. "He played unbelievable. He led his team to a win. He made a lot of tough shots. As a team, we were doing a good job being in front of him, making him shoot contested 3s, contested 2s, but he made them, and you've got to respect that. He played unbelievable."

Only Wilt Chamberlain has scored more points in victory when facing elimination after the first round before his 25th birthday. Chamberlain netted 50 points against Bill Russell's Celtics in Game 5 of the 1960 Eastern Conference finals. He did not match the effort in a Game 6 loss two days later. That is Tatum's assignment in Game 7 against Antetokounmpo's Bucks on Sunday. A title shot and greatness awaits on the other side.

And Tatum is taking his same reassuring attitude home to Boston.

"I'm looking forward to it, truly," he said some 36 hours before tipoff. "Just winning this game and giving ourselves a chance to go back, this is it. It's do or die, and it's going to be fun. This is supposed to be fun. It's basketball. Biggest moments, biggest stage, and when it boils down, I just go out there and have fun."

Tatum went toe to toe with LeBron James as a rookie in Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference finals. He scored 50 points opposite Kevin Durant in last season's playoffs and swept his Brooklyn Nets this year. And he just out-dueled Giannis Antetokounmpo in a road elimination game. He has given the three greatest players of their generation all they could handle. Jayson Tatum isn't 19 anymore. He's an NBA superstar.

ConstableGeneva wrote:I'm revisiting the Raps-Bucks series in 2019. Watching 24-yo Giannis struggle some and I'm slowly realizing I may be too harsh/hard with my assessment and criticism of 24-yo Tatum lol.

EDIT: I will not be able to help myself though. I will still put a chunk of the blame on Tatum if we don't advance.

1st banana wrote:Tatum in the series ha shot 50% on 3s with zero dribbles (catch n shoot) 40% on 3s with 7+ dribbles(true iso) and then everything in between he’s been shooting like 11% or something horrendous like that. Tom westerhom was talking about this with karalis on locked on.

Tatum is an unreal catch n shoot shooter I’d like to see more off ball opportunities for him as a shooter.

31to6 wrote:I just realized how good a thread title this is:)

If Tatum has another kid *please* don't name them "Trips"!