“Jayson Tatum is the most clutch player this season!”: How the Celtics superstar has trumped the likes of Kevin Durant and Steph Curry to lead the league in crunch time scoring

Arun Sharma | 05/12/2021
"Jayson Tatum is the most clutch player this season!": How the Celtics superstar has trumped the likes of Kevin Durant and Steph Curry to lead the league in crunch time scoring

Boston Celtics Forward Jayson Tatum has been the most clutch player this season in the NBA – scoring the highest points so far in the last minutes of a game

Jayson Tatum is a superstar – his clutch minutes numbers reflect that. In the 13 games he’s played so far, he’s had 72 minutes of court time during the last five minutes of each game – second best in the NBA. What’s even crazier that he’s actually 3 games behind Russell Westbrook, and only 4 minutes behind.

That shows how much the Boston Celtics trust the young gun. In those minutes, no one has scored more than him, standing at the top at 50 points. He’s taken 39 shots, out of which he made 15. Tatum isn’t the most efficient though, Anthony Davis is. For all the talk about AD being a bad shot maker this year, he’s been surprisingly efficient in the clutch.

What makes Tatum very important to the Celtics during the last five minutes is his ability to knock down free throws. He’s been able to generate 18 Ft’s for himself, knocking down every one of them. The Celtics have had a lot of close games, and each one of those free throws accounted for a win.

Also Read: “I have 9 spots on each side, you can only defend me in 5 ways!”: Bernard King succintly breaks down the Knicks legend’s own scoring mantra and approach to basketball

Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics have had troubles with staying consistent throughout the season – Currently sitting 9th in their conference

Title aspirations can be considered too lofty for Boston at the moment – with the way things stand, they might not even make the playoffs. Their most consistent player has been Dennis Schroder. Boston have been somewhat of a reverse Robinhood this season, gifting wins to the title contenders and taking points from the lesser ones.

Their best game of the season so far was against the Lakers, absolutely trouncing them at the TD Garden. Tatum was a beast, getting a double double and scoring 37 points. If they find it in them to win games that way, they will be a real problem.  The pieces are there for them, it just has to click, and when it does, they will climb up really quick.

Also Read: “Larry Bird was the only player I feared”: When Magic Johnson revealed how he was “frightened” by the Celtics legend during their playing days

The Boston Celtics have a mini 3 game road trip, after the game against Portland.

Post Edited By: Samir Mehdi
boston celtics Jayson Tatum

About the author

Arun Sharma

Arun Sharma is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. A double degree holder and a digital marketer by trade, Arun has always been a sports buff. He fell in love with the sport of basketball at a young age and has been a Lakers fan since 2006. What started as a Kobe Bryant obsession slowly turned into a lifelong connection with the purple and gold. Arun has been an ardent subscriber to the Mamba mentality and has shed tears for a celebrity death only once in his life. He believes January 26, 2020, was the turning point in the passage of time because Kobe was the glue holding things together. From just a Lakers bandwagoner to a basketball fanatic, Arun has spent 16 long years growing up along with the league. He thinks Stephen Curry has ruined basketball forever, and the mid-range game is a sight to behold. Sharma also has many opinions about football (not the American kind), F1, MotoGP, tennis, and cricket.

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