Boston Celtics All-Star forward Jayson Tatum was honored with being named East Player of the Month on his 22nd birthday today.
The Missouri native joined an elite group of basketball players with his outstanding performance in the month of February as he averaged 30.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 12 games across last month.
He was joined by the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James as the NBA West Player of the Month after James recorded 26 points, 8.1 rebounds and 10.1 assists in 10 games over February.
The duo met head-to-head on Feb. 23rd as the Lakers hosted Boston in a rematch of the Celtics’ blowout win earlier in the season.
LeBron dubbed the young Celtic “an absolute problem” in the narrow win over Boston, secured by a last-second James jumper despite 41 points from Tatum, a career-high.
A well-deserved birthday present 🙌🎉
Congrats @jaytatum0! pic.twitter.com/Jxuc1JPSGD
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 3, 2020
The league also named Chicago Bulls’ Coby White rookie and the New Orleans Pelicans’ Zion Williamson East and West Rookie of the Month for February respectively.
Williamson scored 25.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists last month with the Pels across nine games, and White 20.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists over the same number of games for the Bulls.
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