Celtics’ legend Cedric Maxwell backs Jayson Tatum, gives example of Michael Jordan

It has been a very rough season for the Boston Celtics, they have struggled most part of the season until now. However, off late they are looking like a team that reached the conference finals in the West last season. The Celtics won a dramatic match against the Minnesota Timberwolves as they came from behind and they followed it up with another good performance against the in-form Denver Nuggets. Brad Stevens’ men simply ended the Nuggets 8-game winning streak.

While they are still only at the seventh position in the West, they have finally found their mojo and are on a three-game winning streak.  Stevens will be hoping that this form of his players continue for the upcoming matches and they take it to the playoffs as well. However not so long ago the Celtics were heavily criticised for their inefficiency on the court. Even All-Stars like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were also criticized for their performances. So Tatun decided to silence his doubters and came up with a historic 53 points match against the Timberwolves.

After his performance, Celtics legend Cedric Maxwell was vocal in his support and compared him with one of the all-time greats Michael Jordan.

In their 145-146 overtime win over the Timberwolves, Tatum was on fire as with his 53 points he became the youngest Celtics player to have a 50+ points in a single game. Maxwell did not even doubt Tatum even before the match as he explained that Tatum has a lot to improve on as he gave the example of Michael Jordan.

“Michael Jordan’s arguably one of the greatest players to ever play the game,” he started off. “But, how long did it take him to win? He didn’t win immediately when he came in and people had dubbed him for a while as a guy who couldn’t win it. They said, “He’s individual but he doesn’t make guys around him better” and then all of a sudden he’s the greatest, now, since he made guys around him better. Can Tatum or Brown do that?”

Maxwell also highlighted how Tatum just returned after recovering from COVID-19 and it is not easy to play at a level just after coming back. “There’s a legion of guys out there that are not fond of Jayson Tatum and what he’s done so far this year. I’ve said before, we don’t know how COVID’s affected Jayson Tatum because there was one game in particular where he said, “I was playing against Washington and I couldn’t breathe,” he highlighted.

It is baffling to know that Tatum is only 23 and he has been leading the Boston Celtics. Despite that, he has received a lot of flak especially due to the results this season. The youngster will look to carry this momentum in the upcoming matches and also into the playoffs.