Jayson Tatum the first Celtic since IT to win conference player of the month

Though Jayson Tatum turned 22 at home with an illness last night, the NBA sent the Celtics forward quite the get-well/birthday gift by naming him the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for February.

Tatum, the only player not named Giannis Antetokounmpo to win the honor, averaged 30.7 points while shooting 49.4% (48.1 from three) and also averaging 7.9 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks over 12 games. He became the first Celtic since Isaiah Thomas in January of 2017 to win the honor.

And as always, Brad Stevens views the sky as the limit for Tatum’s development.

“I don’t know that we put limits on him,” said the Celtics coach. “Sometimes you do have to take a step back and say what he’s accomplished at this age is pretty remarkable. I don’t think he’s satisfied with that. The improvement’s been good. Every step of the way, he’s improved from what’s happened last. It’s a good sign. I’m encouraged by him.

“We think all of (our) guys are really good,” said Stevens. “Obviously, when Tatum is playing the way he is playing, you are trying to do little things to help find him a little bit more. Our guys have done a good job of empowering each other. I’ve said this all along: All five have empowered each other all year and certainly Tatum in this stretch. Everyone else has done such a good job of just embracing their role and it’s critical to being a good team. It makes a guy like Tatum — when he’s really going — feel even more empowered to go.”

Smart recovers

Marcus Smart, who has already missed nine games to illness this season, including a particularly troubling eye infection, managed to recover from this latest bout of illness on time to play against the Nets.

And this time Smart didn’t have to check into a hospital.

“No, and thank God I didn’t,” said Smart. “Those guys just brought over some medication for me and that cleared it all up for me. I was finally able to keep stuff down, and eat and everything so I started to feel better. Came in today and wanted to see how it went today. Thought it went fine and so thank God, but no I didn’t have to go to the hospital.

“Yesterday was tough. I was throwing up every 20 minutes. Just a little GI bug. But I am feeling better. Was able to keep stuff down and actually able to get out here and move, so I’m happy about that.”

Smart, especially in the age of coronavirus, has learned that certain sanitary practices are absolutely vital for someone who finds himself in so many public places. That means no high fives.

“I actually kind of stopped it before they even suggested it,” he said. “I don’t sign as many autographs, either, because of it. It’s tough because you want to interact with your fans, but unfortunately the safety risks that are involved with not just us but the fans as well you want to limit it. The fans, hopefully they’ll understand it’s not malicious. It’s nothing toward them. It’s just to keep everybody safe.”

Walker in the lineup

Kemba Walker returned after a five-game absence last night with what, according to Stevens, was a restriction of approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Re-integration wasn’t expected to be a problem.

“The thing about Kemba is he’s so good without the ball, just as good as he is with the ball,” said Smart. “So he knows when to pick his spots and how to get his rhythm back. So he’s not a guy we really have to worry about coming in and trying to see how we can (reimplement) him back into the offense or how we can get his rhythm back. Because he does such a great job of doing it and just going with the flow of the game.

“It feels like we’ve been without him forever. And I know it’s been killing him as a competitor sitting over on the side because I know it kills me when I’m out. And that’s all he was talking about: How he wanted to be out there with us and he couldn’t wait to be back. So we’re happy to have him back.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2TyYxTb