Boston Celtics: Jayson Tatum All-NBA First Team, now for a title

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum is amongst the league’s best.

On Tuesday, the Celtics All-Star forward was named to the All-NBA First Team for the first time in his young NBA career.

In joining Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, and Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, Tatum has stamped his card as one of the best players in the NBA and has also solidified himself as a superstar in the league.

But will the honor mean anything if the Celtics don’t get past the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals and perhaps win a championship.

Can Jayson Tatum now lead the Boston Celtics to Banner 18 this season?

In averaging a career-high 26.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists, the Celtics young rising star is currently battling consistency on the court as both a leader and a player who can take over any game at any point.

Yes, he outplayed the great Kevin Durant and led his team past Antetokounmpo and the defending NBA champions thus far in the playoffs, but the challenge for Tatum appears to be consistency.

In the ECF against the Heat, Tatum has had his moments, but it is his bad games (particularly just 10 points in Game 3) that continue to hold him back as the superstar many believe he is and as a leader who can make the players around him better.

While his supporting cast of Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Al Horford are there to pick him up during those times, it is up to Tatum to be the best player on the court at any time.  That means finding ways to win when the shot is not falling, and it also means not complaining when the calls aren’t going his way.

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In other words, it’s put up or shut up time for the 24-year-old star.  It’s time to Tatum to get his team to the next level by first extinguishing the Heat.  That starts with taking control of the series in Game 5 by coming out with the same urgency the team has when their backs are against the wall.

"“It’s kind of like a new series, best of three,” Tatum said during his postgame conference following Game 4, via NBC Sports Boston.  “I think just having a conversation that I think human nature plays a part in, when you win a game, you can relax a little bit.  But obviously, when we lose a game, we feel like the next game is do or die, and then we come out and play like we did and things like that.“I think we have to have that mindset going into Game 5 that it is a must-win game, because tonight was essentially something like that.  Everybody knew it.  We could all feel it.  And I think that showed in the way we came out.”"

Tatum finished that game with 30 points and looked every bit of that All-NBA First Team not he received on Tuesday.  But the rest of this series and perhaps a trip to the NBA Finals will be what defines Jayson Tatum in 2021-22.

The sky will still be the limit for the Boston Celtics star given his age and talent, but that mindset he mentioned can catapult him into a new level.

An NBA title will not only cement Tatum as one of the NBA faces of the present and future it will establish him as one of the elites, but a player also other superstars around the league will want to play with.

All-NBA First Team is nice, but leading the Celtics to Banner 18 would be the ultimate achievement, especially during a season his compete level was challenged.