![\"Justin](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777165406_121_GettyImages-2271891726_d39b72-e1776894242926.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Justin Edwards #11 of the Philadelphia 76ers and Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics <\/p>\n
Months ago, it seemed as though only a miracle would require Jayson Tatum<\/a> to play any significant part of the season. However, not only did he play 16 regular-season games, but the 28-year-old forward is in the thick of playoff action with the Boston Celtics<\/a>.<\/p>\n He played 42 minutes in Game 3 against the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> on Friday night and his 25-point performance was crucial to the Celtics taking a 2-1 series lead, but it was a significant game for other reasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Saturday, the Celtics announced an incredible feat accomplished by their superstar.<\/p>\n \u201cJayson Tatum is the 2nd-youngest player in NBA<\/a> history to score 3,000 playoff points. The youngest is LeBron James<\/a>,\u201d the Celtics wrote<\/a> on their official X account.<\/p>\n Heading into Game 4 on Sunday, Tatum has already delivered strong performances in his return to the playoffs and\u00a0<\/p>\n Jayson Tatum is Overcoming the Odds\u00a0<\/p>\n Tatum\u2019s latest milestone is a huge one because it marks his ninth consecutive playoff appearance for Boston. He has not missed a single postseason but that was almost the case when he ruptured his right Achilles tendon in Game 4 of last year\u2019s Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks<\/a>, an injury that sidelined him for nearly 10 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tatum, against the norm, returned in early March which gave him an ample window to prepare for playoff basketball. He didn\u2019t look out of place when the postseason began. In a Game 1 victory against the Sixers, he posted a double-double in just 32 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n GettyJayson Tatum rises over Tyrese Maxey<\/a> for a key jumper as the Celtics close out Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t new territory for Tatum. Since entering the league as the No. 3 pick in 2017, he has helped the Celtics reach the NBA Finals multiple times and won the championship in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Achilles injury has always been one associated with a difficult recovery and adaptation phase, yet Tatum has shown no sign of slowing down since he returned and has instead grown better with each game.<\/p>\n Milestone Puts Star Among the Greats<\/p>\n By reaching 3000 playoff points, Tatum now ranks fourth on the Celtics\u2019 all-time scoring list in the postseason, behind legends John Havlicek, Kevin McHale and Larry Bird.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tatum\u2019s postseason prowess has been key to Boston\u2019s surge as a contender in the East. His fourth-quarter impact in Game 3, helped close out an 108-100 win against a tough Sixers team.<\/p>\n Philadelphia evened out the series in Game 2 at the TD Garden and will look to even the series again in Game 4 at home, where it hopes to disrupt Boston\u2019s rhythm.<\/p>\n Philadelphia, which came via the play-in tournament route has shown flashes of competitiveness, but containing Tatum and his partner Jaylen Brown<\/a> together has proven difficult. Brown, like Tatum, also scored 25 points in Game 3.<\/p>\n Boston, meanwhile, will aim to take a 3-1 lead and shift momentum back to TD Garden for a deciding Game 5.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Celtics came into the postseason as top favorites being the last team from the East to have won the championship. They entered as the No. 2 seed despite playing the majority of the season without Tatum.<\/p>\n Game 4 tips off Sunday with the Celtics looking to build on their series lead and keep their hopes rolling heading into May.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdel Ahmad<\/a> Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Justin Edwards #11 of the Philadelphia 76ers and Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics Months ago,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-718153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116468319337324890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jayson](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2272334474-e1777134022742.jpg\")
<\/p>\n