Jayson Tatum makes history with the Celtics

The Boston Celtics are the only undefeated team in the NBA after the first five games of the 2023-24 season, making it five wins from five by beating the Brooklyn Nets 124-114 at the Barclays Center. Playing a big part in the Cs effort was Jayson Tatum, who ended with a double-double of 32 points and 11 boards with six threes while Jrue Holiday was just one rebound away from signing a triple-double of 18 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. Likewise, Jaylen Brown (23pts) and Kristaps Porzingis (22pts, 7 rebounds) put their shoulders together to emerge victorious from the home of their divisional rivals. Even Luke Kornet, the substitute center, had a surprising contribution despite limited minutes on-court, adding 11 points and seven rebounds in just 14:49 on the floor.

During the game, Tatum cemented his legacy as a member of the Celtics by becoming the youngest player in franchise history to reach 10,000 points. The shot which enabled him to reach the landmark came from a foul with 5:05 left to play in the second quarter, to make it 51-48 on the board. The previous record holder was Antoine Walker, who reached the 10,000 mark at the age of 26 years and 131 days. ‘Taco Jay’ achieved it aged 25 years and 246 days.

The Nets offered resistance for a good part of the second quarter and managed to be ahead on the scoreboard, but poor shot selection and good defense by the Celtics complicated everything in the second half for the quintet led by Jacque Vaughn.

Cam Thomas needed 24 shots to score 27 points while Spencer Dinwiddie and Mikal Bridges contributed 19 each. For his part, Royce O’Neale had an abysmal night, making just two of his 15 shots, in which 11 of his errors were three-pointers.

Brooklyn Nets

Stats

1 Mikal Bridges
13 Armoni Brooks
26 Spencer Dinwiddie
28 Dorian Finney-Smith
14 Harry Giles III
0 Royce O'Neale
20 Day'Ron Sharpe
4 Dennis Smith Jr.
24 Cam Thomas
8 Lonnie Walker IV
9 Trendon Watford
22 Jalen Wilson
21 Noah Clowney
45 Keon Johnson
0 Dariq Whitehead

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
1 Mikal Bridges	37	19	6	2	4	4	0	1	1	1/1	3/9	4/11	0	4	0
13 Armoni Brooks	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
26 Spencer Dinwiddie	35	19	6	0	6	6	1	0	0	0/3	5/7	3/7	0	1	0
28 Dorian Finney-Smith	36	14	8	4	4	1	0	0	0	0/0	1/1	4/9	0	3	0
14 Harry Giles III	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
0 Royce O'Neale	36	6	4	1	3	3	0	1	1	0/0	0/2	2/13	0	4	0
20 Day'Ron Sharpe	16	11	7	3	4	1	2	0	0	5/8	3/4	0/0	0	3	0
4 Dennis Smith Jr.	14	5	1	0	1	1	1	1	2	0/0	1/1	1/4	0	3	0
24 Cam Thomas	37	27	5	0	5	3	0	1	1	3/3	9/18	2/6	0	2	0
8 Lonnie Walker IV	17	13	3	0	3	1	1	0	0	2/2	4/6	1/2	0	0	0
9 Trendon Watford	5	0	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	1	0
22 Jalen Wilson	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
21 Noah Clowney	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
45 Keon Johnson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
0 Dariq Whitehead	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0

Boston Celtics

Stats

45 Dalano Banton
12 Oshae Brissett
7 Jaylen Brown
30 Sam Hauser
4 Jrue Holiday
42 Al Horford
40 Luke Kornet
50 Svi Mykhailiuk
8 Kristaps Porzingis
11 Payton Pritchard
77 Lamar Stevens
0 Jayson Tatum
20 JD Davison
13 Nathan Knight

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
45 Dalano Banton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
12 Oshae Brissett	10	5	3	1	2	1	0	0	0	2/2	0/0	1/4	0	0	0
7 Jaylen Brown	35	23	5	0	5	4	2	0	1	7/8	5/11	2/11	0	4	0
30 Sam Hauser	18	5	1	0	1	0	1	2	0	0/0	1/1	1/2	0	3	0
4 Jrue Holiday	40	18	9	4	5	10	3	0	1	2/2	2/6	4/9	0	1	0
42 Al Horford	30	8	7	2	5	3	0	1	1	0/0	4/4	0/3	0	1	0
40 Luke Kornet	14	11	7	0	7	0	0	1	0	1/1	5/5	0/0	0	3	0
50 Svi Mykhailiuk	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
8 Kristaps Porzingis	30	22	7	2	5	1	1	0	3	5/8	7/8	1/2	0	2	0
11 Payton Pritchard	19	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/4	0	2	0
77 Lamar Stevens	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
0 Jayson Tatum	40	32	11	1	10	1	3	0	0	6/6	4/10	6/10	0	1	0
20 JD Davison	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
13 Nathan Knight	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0