Official News: Jayson Tatum’s girlfriend Ella Mai have finally announced their wedding date…….
Setting the stage this week is the showdown at TD Garden on Friday (7:30 ET, ESPN) that pits arguably the two most polarizing candidates of this season’s MVP race against one another, with Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics hosting the Luka Doncic-led Dallas Mavericks.
The matchup represents the 10th all time between the stars in a series tied 5-5.
It also provides an opportunity for the players to bolster their respective candidacies during a high-stakes clash in front of a national audience.
It also provides an opportunity for the players to bolster their respective candidacies during a high-stakes clash in front of a national audience.
Tatum leads what should be a well-rested Boston squad with a commanding lead in the East looking for its 10th consecutive win. But the idea of Tatum embodying the argument that the best player on the league’s top team deserves viability as an MVP candidate hasn’t held up as strongly as expected.
That’s largely due to statistical comparisons between the 25-year-old and the rest of the top five in the Kia Race to the MVP Ladder. But let’s not ignore that Tatum sits on a career-high in assists (4.9), and a career-high tying field-goal percentage (47.5%), not to mention improved 3-point shooting from last season (36.1% in 2023-24 after posting 35% in 2022-23).
As for Doncic, it’s the gaudy numbers shaping his candidacy.
But Dallas enters this contest at No. 7 in the Western Conference, having lost two of its last three games. Historically, no player has ever captured MVP for a team seeded seventh or worse, and just three players (Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook and Karl Malone) won from a team finishing sixth.
One stat to know: 60.4 — That’s Tatum’s true shooting percentage. Three players (Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Giannis Antetokounmpo) in league annals have averaged 27 points or more, eight-plus rebounds and four assists with that shooting percentage on a team with a winning percentage of .750 or better.
What they’re saying: “You can’t tell people what they should look for when they vote [for MVP]. That’s the beauty of it.” — Tatum on the importance of winning MVP at this stage of his career.
