On Saturday evening, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics picked up their eighth straight win–and eighth straight win on the road–with a big victory over the New York Knicks on the road in Madison Square Garden. Tatum was relatively quiet in this one, scoring 19 points for a Celtics' offense that was led by Jaylen Brown, but there is something to be said of course about a star player being willing to take a backseat when his teammates have it going.
In recent weeks, there has been a growing discussion as to why Tatum isn't being taken more seriously as an MVP candidate considering Boston's success, and after the Knicks game, Boston big man Kristaps Porzingis broke down his thoughts on the debate and how Tatum's approach factors into it.
“JT, he deserves a lot of credit because he can say F it. I want to score 30 every night. I want to get MVP. But he’s not doing that. I think people are overlooking that. You have to give him credit,” said Porzingis, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.
Tatum's MVP candidacy, or lack thereof, has raised a question on what exactly “value” means in the NBA. Should Tatum be punished for having an (exponentially) better supporting cast than other candidates like Luka Doncic? Would the Dallas Mavericks be as successful if Tatum and Doncic switched spots? The answer, of course, is that we'll never know.
Boston next takes the court on Tuesday vs the Philadelphia 76ers.
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