There are plenty of reasons why the Boston Celtics are among the best defensive teams in the NBA today, one of which is the stellar play of their young guns, including rookie forward Jayson Tatum. Tatum personified the Celtics’ tremendous focus on stopping their opponents’ offense when he recorded six blocks and three steals to go with 14 points and six boards during Saturday’s 87-85 road win over the Brooklyn Nets.

A little research would reveal that Tatum has become the youngest player ever in the NBA to get at least six shot rejections and three steals in a game. Before Tatum, that recognition belonged to Kevin Garnett who had six blocks and four steals when he was 19 years and 334 days old way back in 1996. Tatum broke that record Saturday when he was 19 years, 10 months, and three days old.

Apart from being a talented scorer, Tatum is also arguably the Celtics’ best defender. Aside from averaging 13.9 points per game and shooting 46.2 percent from behind the arc this season, Tatum is also making 1.0 steal and 0.9 blocks a night. In addition, Tatum also leads the Celtics in defensive win shares (2.3).

The Celtics lead the NBA in scoring defense with only 97.6 points allowed per game. They also let teams shoot just 42.9 percent from the field against them.

With players like Tatum doing an excellent job on both offense and defense, the Celtics have surprised a lot of people with how they remain a very competitive team despite not having Gordon Hayward.