Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter went to work in limited minutes tonight and recorded a stat line that has not been in over five decades.
The Turkish big man had 22 points and 19 rebounds in Boston's 140-105 drubbing of the New Orleans Pelicans. According to Jay King of The Athletic, Kanter became the first player since Paul Silas to record at least 22 points and 18 boards in less than 24 minutes.
Enes Kanter became the first player to record at least 22 points and 18 rebounds in less than 24 minutes since Paul Silas in 1969. The only other player ever to do it was Dolph Schayes in 1961.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) January 12, 2020
The points and rebounds were a season-high for Kanter, who has been playing well for the Celtics as of late. As you can see, the 27-year old does not need a lot of minutes to produce and put up gaudy stat lines like he did tonight. He is arguably one of the best per-minute producers out there in the NBA.
However, he has seen a dip in overall production in his first season in Bean Town due to limited minutes under coach Brad Stevens. In 29 games so far, Kanter is averaging 8.7 points and 8.2 rebounds in just 18.1 minutes. But per 36, those numbers bump up to 17. points and 16.3 rebounds.
Over the last 13 games prior to tonight, however, Kanter has seen a slight bump in minutes, due to some injuries to some of their big men. In those 13 contests, despite continuing to come off Boston's bench, Kanter put up 11.2 points and 11.2 boards in nearly 21 minutes of action.
The Celtics torched the Pelicans tonight and Kanter was not the only one who had a huge game. Third-year star Jayson Tatum dropped a career-high 41 points on 16-of-22 shooting, to go along with six triples, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
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