Records and Sandcastles: An MVP Candidate and Unique Mindset Keep the Celtics Rolling
Jayson Tatum: the STL Kid turned Boston basketball fans’ pride and joy, 2021-22 LeagueFits Second-Team honoree, Deuce’s Dad, and now, the first player in NBA history to record multiple games of 45+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 8+ threes and the youngest player in League history to reach 900 made-threes.
Taco Jay is on a rampage, and he’s launched himself to the top of the MVP race. Wednesday, Tatum dropped a season-high 49 points on 8-12 threes and 15-25 shooting from the floor in a 134-121 win over the Miami Heat. TD Garden lauded the guard’s stellar performance with MVP chants.
“That means everything,” Tatum said per NBC Sports Boston about the MVP chants during the game. “That’s something I’ve dreamed about as a kid, and to hear it in front of our home crowd from the best fans in the world, it holds a special place in my heart.”
“I love this place, I love being here, and hearing that during the game gives you chills.”
Leading the No. 1 ranked Celtics with 31.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game, Tatum is locked in as an early-season MVP candidate.
The C’s are a League-best 18-4 a quarter of the way into the season, and they are hungry as ever following their Finals run.
Tatum has been vocal about the devastation he felt following Boston’s Finals loss to the Warriors and the subsequent motivation he and the Celtics’ have to get back to the championship round and ultimately win a championship.
While Tatum’s first five seasons with the Celtics were riddled with inconsistency, injuries, and both roster and front-office changes, the C’s may have finally found their footing. Undoubtedly their most consistent and confident start to the season, the Celtics rely on an unusual metaphor to stay locked-in day after day: the sandcastle.
Every time the Celtics enter the film room, head coach Joe Mazzulla has a picture or video of sand castles up. The “cheesy” message is that you build great sandcastles on vacation, but when you leave the beach, the tide inevitably comes in and washes the sandcastle away. So the next day, you arrive at the beach, and you build another sandcastle.
The C’s are focused on being a one-win-at-a-time team. They are trying to show up each day and build the best sandcastle they can.
“It’s a choice that we’ve got to make every day when we come in and try to be the best version of ourselves — and knowing that it’s never going to be easy,” Tatum said per MSN. “We’re always going to get the other team’s best shot.”
An 18-4 record and a dominant win over an Eastern Conference rival in Miami don’t mean much to Boston today. That record and that win were yesterday. The tide came in, washed the win away, and left a fresh beach for Boston to build another great sandcastle.
The Celtics refuse to be complacent. They refuse to be satisfied. Until they win Banner 18, it’s “done, next” for the C’s.
Boston faces the Heat again tomorrow night and looks to add another W to their win column.
