It was Jayson Tatum’s evening in Boston because the Celtics handed the Cleveland Cavaliers their first defeat of the season to remain alive within the NBA Cup.
Tatum’s MVP odds shorten to +400 with 33/12/7 vs Cleveland
Heading into Tuesday’s nationally televised showdown, the Cavs aimed to guard the second-best begin in league historical past after successful all of their first 15 video games to take a seat fairly atop the Japanese Convention.
Tatum and the reigning champion Celtics had different concepts although, because the visiting facet have been slapped with their first lack of the marketing campaign in a 120-117 win for the hosts at TD Backyard.
Because of a splendid efficiency from one of many league’s main MVP candidates, Boston stored their hopes of qualifying for the NBA Cup quarter-finals alive and moved to inside 2.5 video games of the Cavs within the total standings.
Tatum recorded 33 factors, 12 rebounds and 7 assists on the evening, taking pictures 6/10 from outdoors the arc and 11/22 from the sphere with two steals on high – and his MVP odds shortened to +400 following the ultimate buzzer.
In accordance with the finest on-line betting websites, there are solely two gamers with higher probabilities at successful the award than Tatum – Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma Metropolis’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
As evidenced within the StatMuse tweet under, Tatum’s claims are rock stable. He leads the league in complete factors, 30-point video games, video games with 5 or extra threes – and his personal group in factors, rebounds and assists per recreation.
Jayson Tatum:
— 1st in factors
— 1st in 30-point video games
— 1st in video games with 5+ threes
— Main Celtics in PPG, RPG and APGSimply dropped 33/12/7 on one of the best group within the NBA. pic.twitter.com/iVa1Oj4hX4
— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 20, 2024
WATCH: Jayson Tatum drops Georges Niang and hits stepback three
JT, THAT’S TOUGH 😮💨
The step-back triple provides the Celtics a 5-point lead heading into the 4th!
🏆 East Group C motion
🏀 CLE-BOS on TNT pic.twitter.com/S56OofnmnT— NBA (@NBA) November 20, 2024
The 26-year-old has been on hearth to start out the season. He was already thought to be a top-five participant within the league following his first championship triumph in June, however now it appears he’s knocking on the door for the highest spot.
He appears more and more relaxed and unfastened, now not carrying the heavy burden of public expectation which was positioned upon his shoulders from nearly the minute he was drafted to the NBA.
In 36 minutes a recreation this season, Tatum is averaging 29.9 factors, 8.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists per recreation on 39% taking pictures from three and 46% from the sphere – in addition to 1.4 steals an evening too.
Standing as one of many league’s most adorned skills on the age of simply 26, Tatum’s resume of a championship, 5 All-Star choices and 4 All-NBA honors together with three on the First Group could possibly be about to get a complete lot higher.
He’s one in all two gamers alongside Jokic to be main his time in factors, rebounds and assists per recreation this season and he undoubtedly deserves the heap of reward and affection he’s receiving.
As soon as the Celtics inevitably catch as much as the Cavs within the Japanese Convention standings and start to tug away from the remainder of the league, Tatum could possibly be watching a straight path to his first MVP success.