Tatum has a big impact on the NBA MVP race, the main goal for the Celtics


Tatum has a big impact on the NBA MVP race, the main goal for the Celtics first appeared on NBC sports Boston

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is the best player on the NBA’s best team. It’s a great place to be, but it might not help your case for league MVP.

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps released the results His first grassroots MVP vote of the season was last week. Many participants in the Bontemps poll will actually vote for the award at the end of the season. Tatum came in fourth place in the polls and did not earn a single first-ballot vote from the 100 votes cast.

Tatum gave MVP-caliber performance against the Chicago Bulls Last Thursday. He scored 43 points with 16 rebounds and 10 assists as the Celtics won 123-98. It was the first time a Celtics player had ever topped 40-plus points, 15-plus rebounds and 10-plus assists in a game. The last Celtic to have a 40-point triple-double was Larry Bird.

Tatum was asked about the MVP race and his candidacy after the win in Chicago, and he gave a very thoughtful answer.

“We’re a real, really good team, with a lot of talented players,” Tatum said postgame, as seen in the video player above. “I’m probably not going to put up the same numbers as some of those other guys. That’s fine with me, especially what we did last June.

“That’s the main goal here, not for me to win the MVP, but for us to play at a high level and compete for a championship year in and year out. If I achieve that along the way, that would be amazing, but The main goal is for everyone to be excited and to play a role in us doing something important.”

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla thinks Tatum’s greatness is often overlooked in the MVP conversation.

“Yes, no question, 100 percent he did,” Mazzulla told reporters after the game on Friday. “Again, because he’s been doing it for a long time and he’s on the best team, and I think it hurts him sometimes. But it’s just his ability to do what he does on the team I think it says more about him as a player.”

Tatum is putting up incredible stats. He leads the Celtics with 28.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He is also shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from 3-point range, in addition to solid defense.

That’s an MVP-caliber resume, but there are other players with better stats, including reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, who is averaging three-pointers for the Denver Nuggets.

Winning the MVP is great, and if it happens for Tatum, it will increase his success. But the best way for him to be remembered like anything all season is by winning a lot of titles, not a lot of MVPs.

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