On a night when the Boston Celtics franchise celebrated its record 18th NBA championship, St. Louisan Jayson Tatum added his own personal stamp to the festivities.
After the raising of championship banner No. 18 at TD Garden Arena, Tatum erupted for a game-high 37 points to lead the Celtics to a 132-109 victory over the New York Knicks in the season-opener on Tuesday night.
The former Chaminade College Prep All-American was on fire from start to finish as he unleashed his newly tweaked jump shot, which netted 14 of 18 shooting from the field and a torrid eight of 11 shooting from 3-point range. Tatum also grabbed four rebounds and handed out 10 assists. He was able to do all of this in just 30 minutes of action.
In the first half, Tatum made six of his nine 3-point attempts in scoring 25 points as he staked the hot-shooting Celtics to a 73-58 halftime lead. Tatum led a team shooting barrage, which saw the Celtics make 29 3-pointers while shooting 47 percent from long distance.
Tatum is coming off a tremendous 2023-24 campaign where he averaged 25 points, 9.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists a game in leading the Celtics to a 64-18 record. He also earned his second gold medal during the summer as a member of the USA Olympic basketball team. In addition, he inked a new five-year contract extension worth $315 million.
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