Jayson Tatum joins Larry Bird in Celtics history books in Hornets loss appeared first on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics ended their four-game road trip with a 121-118 overtime loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night, dropping them to 11-3 on the year. In the event, C forward Jayson Tatum made franchise history by becoming the second player in Celtics history to record at least 45 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists in a game.
Following in the footsteps of Larry Bird, who accomplished that stat line four times in his 13 years with the Celtics, Tatum posted a season-high 45 points on 15-of-28 shooting, shooting an efficient 7-of -15 from deep. In his 44 minutes of play, Tatum was the team’s bright spot in their third loss of the year.
Playing without Al Horford and Derrick White, Tatum led the team in rebounds and assists with 13 and 6, respectively. Boston big Kristaps Porzingis had an off night by standards set so far this year with just eight rebounds, so Tatum’s contributions were much needed on the boards. Rebounding was a struggle for the team as a whole as they were defeated by Charlotte 57-48.
Ball movement was a struggle for Boston as well as he only recorded 19 assists as a team, compared to a season average of 24.5. Assists have been at the bottom of the Celtics’ offense all season, ranking 27th among teams in that category. Tatum showed improvement in the assist game during Monday night’s loss with six, improving over his season average of 4.1 assists per game.
The Celtics’ loss comes after a long road trip and the second night of back-to-back games without two key players in Horford and White. It was also Boston’s first trip to overtime this season, so you can bet Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla will be taking notes on how to improve in OT. ‘ move forward.
Instead of registering the loss, Celtics fans can choose to rejoice in the historic performance of their star players as they look forward to taking on an Eastern Conference rival in the Milwaukee Bucks at home Wednesday at 7:30pm ET.
