Player of the Month

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Taylor Snow

The NBA handed out both its weekly and monthly player awards Monday afternoon and the Boston Celtics went 2-for-2.

Jayson Tatum was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for games played in February, and Jaylen Brown was recognized as the East’s Player of the Week for games played from Feb. 26 through March 3. For both of them, it marked the fourth time winning each award.

Tatum strengthened his MVP case with his second POTM nod of the season, making him the only player in either conference with multiple such wins. He also earned the award for games played in October/November.

With it being his fourth POTM recognition in total, Tatum trails only Bird’s seven wins for an entire Celtics career.

JT helped to lead the C’s to an NBA-best 9-1 February record while averaging 27.2 points on 48.0 percent shooting, 8.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. He also committed just 2.1 turnovers per game despite averaging 79.2 touches and posting a usage rate of 29.6 percent.

It marked the ninth instance of a Celtic averaging at least 27.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.0 3-point attempts per game over a single month. All nine of those occurrences Tatum has been responsible for.

It was one of the best playmaking stretches of Tatum’s career, as it marked the first time he’s averaged more than 6.0 assists over the course of a single month. He tallied at least five rebounds and five assists in nine straight games from Feb. 4 to Feb. 27, a span during which Boston went 9-0. The only Celtics who have logged a longer such stretch are Larry Bird, John Havlicek, and Bill Russell.

Tatum’s best game came during a 118-110 win on Feb. 13 in Brooklyn, during which he logged month-highs of 41 points and 14 rebounds to go along with five assists, two steals, and a block. It made him just the fifth player in NBA history to log at least 40 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, five 3-point field goals, and two steals, joining DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook.

"He wants to win more than anything else,” C’s head coach Joe Mazzulla said after that effort against the Nets. “I think that's part of his growth as a player is he understands he has to be great for us every night, but it looks different every night."

JT came close to logging a triple-double on several occasions, including a 35-point, 10-rebound, eight-assist game against Washington, a 26-point, 10-rebound, nine-assist performance in Miami, and a 29-point, 11-rebound, eight-assist effort against Philadelphia.

As for Brown, he continued the tear that he’s been on since the All-Star break.

JB helped to lead the Celtics to a 3-0 week with blowout wins over Philadelphia (117-99), Dallas (138-110), and Golden State (140-88), while averaging 28.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game. During that stretch, he shot 62.3 percent from the field, including 47.1 percent from long range.

Brown was incredibly consistent from a shot-making standpoint, making exactly 11 field goals in all three contests.

His most efficient effort came right off the bat with 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting against Philly. It made him the first Celtic to score more than 30 points while attempting fewer than 15 shots at TD Garden since Pierce in 2008.

The All-Star wing followed that up with his most well-rounded performance of the week: a 25-point, seven-rebound, five-assist, one-steal, zero-turnover effort against Dallas. He served as Luka Doncic’s primary defender that night and was extremely successful, limiting the MVP candidate to just six points during the 23.7 possessions in which he guarded him.

To wrap up the week, Brown had his most prolific long-range effort and best point-per-minute performance with 29 points and five 3-point makes during just 22 minutes of action in a drubbing of the Dubs. Brown erupted for 19 points in the first seven minutes of the first quarter, marking the fourth time in five games coming out of the All-Star break in which he tallied at least 18 points before halftime.”

“I love what Jaylen’s doing,” Mazzulla told Celtics.com when asked about Brown’s hot starts. “I love the work he’s putting in, I love the poise he’s playing with on the offensive end, I love the way he’s getting different baskets. Whether he’s handling, whether it’s in transition, the poise he’s playing with in the post, he’s really reading the game and taking advantage of it.”

The win over Golden State marked the 11th straight victory for the Celtics, the longest win streak of any team in the NBA this season. The Jays have their team rolling at just the right time, hopefully preparing them to gather some more prestigious hardware down the line.

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Tatum Takes Home POTM, Brown Banks POTW

The first Eastern Conference Player of the Month award for the 2023-24 season deservedly went to the best player on the best team for games played in October and November.

For the third time in his career, Jayson Tatum has earned the East’s monthly honor. Only Larry Bird (seven-time winner) and Paul Pierce (four-time winner) have earned more. It’s also the second straight year in which the All-NBA wing was recognized as the conference’s top player through the first month-plus of the season, with his last win coming in October/November of the 2022-23 season.

Tatum helped to get his Celtics off to a conference-best 14-4 start through the end of November while averaging 27.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. His scoring average ranked third in the East behind Joel Embiid (32.0 PPG) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (29.8 PPG); however, the difference between Tatum and those two guys is that the former scored at such a high volume despite playing alongside four other starters who are all capable of scoring 20-plus on any given night.

It's also worth highlighting the well-roundedness of Tatum’s offensive production, as he ranked among the top players in the conference in several sub-scoring categories. He tallied 149 pull-up points (fourth), 37 post-up points (second), and 82 points off turnovers (first). He also made 175 field goals (second), including 57 from 3-point range (fourth).

On top of all that, Tatum is scoring at the most efficient rate of his career. Through the end of November, he was shooting a career-best 49.4 percent from the field, including a career-high 60.2 percent from inside the 3-point arc on 10.9 such attempts per game. By comparison, his career averages in those departments were 45.8 percent and 50.9 percent, respectively, entering the season.

He and Antetokounmpo were the only two East players who shot over 60% from 2-point range among players with at least 10 such attempts per game.

JT also shot a respectable 36.1 percent from long range, putting him on pace to exceed the rate from his previous two seasons (35.0 percent in 2022-23 and 35.3 percent in 2021-22).

Tatum put in work on the other end, as well, where he helped lead the C’s to a conference-best 107.1 defensive rating.

He led the East with 8.1 defensive rebounds per game, which is absurd for a wing player (the next closest by a non-big was Toronto’s Scottie Barnes at 6.4). He also tied Jaylen Brown for the most defensive win shares in the East with 0.2.

Tatum had a handful of individual standout performances scattered across the month that helped contribute to his overall production. His best game was a monster 45-point, 13-rebound, six-assist, two-block effort Nov. 20 at Charlotte. He corralled a season-high 15 rebounds Nov. 8 at Philadelphia, which was one of his seven double-doubles through the end of the month. And he tied a career-high with five steals during a 32-point outing Nov. 24 at Orlando.

In all, it’s been a heck of a start for the seventh-year wing. Tatum's been the best player on the best team in the conference – arguably in the whole league, for that matter – and is well on his way toward another MVP-caliber season.

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Tatum Named Oct./Nov. East Player of the Month

Boston Celtics

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The Boston Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas today was named the Kia NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for games played in January.

Thomas led the NBA in scoring (32.9 ppg) and tied for fifth in the East in assists (6.9 apg) for the month as the Celtics went 10-4 to take over first place in the Atlantic Division.  The 5-9 Thomas, who was named an All-Star for the second straight season, shot 49.7 percent from the field, 43.2 percent from three-point range and 94.1 percent from the free throw line.  He recorded eight games with at least 30 points, including two with 40 points or more.  Thomas has scored at least 20 points in each of his last 33 games, the NBA’s longest streak this season.  His current scoring average (29.7 ppg) is just shy of Boston’s single-season record, which Larry Bird set with 29.9 points per game in 1987-88.

Here is a closer look at January for Thomas:

Other nominees for the Kia NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month were Atlanta’s Paul Millsap, Indiana’s Paul George, Miami’s Goran Dragic, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Toronto’s Kyle Lowry.

Player of the Month

Tatum Takes Home POTM, Brown Banks POTW

Tatum Named Oct./Nov. East Player of the Month

Isaiah Thomas Named Eastern Conference Player of the Month