Tatum has been to the playoffs in each of his nine seasons.
With 25 points on Friday night in a 108-100 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum joined LeBron James in some incredible NBA history.
As noted by the Celtics, Tatum is now the second youngest player to ever score 3,000 career points in the playoffs. Only James was younger.
There's a few things at play here, obviously. Because of the one-and-done rule, players are able to get to the NBA younger than they used to, and because the Celtics have been to the playoffs in each of Tatum's nine years, he has had more chances to accumulate playoff points than other players have.
It's a testament to how good he is, how good the Celtics have been and how durable he's been that he's been able to hit a mark like this.
Tatum has played in 124 career playoff games, averaging 24.2 ppg. He helped the Celtics get to the NBA Finals in 2021-22 and helped them win the title in 2023-24.
The former No. 3 pick in the NBA Draft (2017), Tatum is a six-time All-Star and a five-time All-NBA selection. He was also the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021-22
Though it was just 16 games, Tatum played quite well in his return to the floor from a torn Achilles this season. He averaged 21.8 ppg and a career-high 10 rebounds. He shot 41.1 percent from the floor and 32.9 percent from three-point range. As always, he's a major factor in how far the Celtics will go in these playoffs.
Onto Game 4
Game 4 will take place on Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET. It will air nationally on NBC and we still don't know if Joel Embiid will make his season debut yet. He had an emergency appendectomy on April 9. The Celtics lead the series 2-1.
Elsewhere in Celtics news
The usually reliable Derrick White struggled to find his shot again on Friday night, going 3-of-12 from the floor and 1-for-8 from three-point range.
The guard, who is one of the top two-way players in the league, is just 5-for-25 from three-point range in this series. But despite his struggles, he still has the support of his teammates, including Tatum, who said:
“Obviously we need him. I can say it 100 times, we need him, we need him, we need him. And it’s tough, as a basketball player, we’ve all been through it.”
“D. White is an unreal basketball player that still just has his imprint on the game.”
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