Tatum scored 26 points and had 10 rebounds and 6 assists in Game 7 when they beat the Miami Heat to progress to the NBA Finals. Tatum also became the first winner of the Larry Bird award.
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NBA legend Kendrick Perkins believes that if Jayson Tatum helps the Boston Celtics beat the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, then his performance will go down as one of the greatest performances in the history of the NBA. The former big man was speaking on SportsCenter on ESPN when he stated the above. Tatum scored 26 points and had 10 rebounds and 6 assists in Game 7 when they beat the Miami Heat to progress to the NBA Finals. Tatum also became the first winner of the Larry Bird award.
Shedding light on the greatness of Tatum, Perkins said, “Just think about this for a second. He (Tatum) went through Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the first round. He went through Giannis Antetokounmpo in the second round. Jimmy Butler, the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and an elite head coach in Erik Spoelstra and now, he has an opportunity to take down Steph Curry. If he completes the mission, this will go down as one of the greatest individual performances in NBA history.” After winning the Larry Bird award, Tatum honoured his idol, the late Kobe Bryant by wearing a wristband with the iconic number 24, which Kobe would sport.
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Perkins who himself won an NBA Championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008 praised the current team for the way they go about their business. He said, “They are young but they have old souls. When I look at the way they communicate on the defensive end, when you look at this Celtics defence, their athleticism, they have everything from perimeter defence when you look at Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to the interior when you go to Al Horford and Williams. And then they have perimeter scoring in Jayson Tatum, who I feel like right now is on the verge of having one of the greatest individual playoff runs in NBA history.”
Perkins also praised the defensive brilliance of the Celtics and praised head coach Ime Udoka for making it possible. “Shoutout to Ime Udoka because when you see a young team like this locked in on the defensive side of things, that means that the head coach got their attention. I go back to the point that I said earlier, here is the thing about making it to the finals. You have to balance between celebrating being there cause you don’t want to take it for granted and staying focused.”
