Jayson Tatum Reflects on Debut vs. LeBron: 'No Better Way to Start Your Career'

Jayson Tatum has exceeded all possible expectations for his rookie season, helping lead the Boston Celtics to the conference finals despite the losses of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. 

Tatum said being thrown right into the fire his opening night—against LeBron James, no less—helped prepare him for his NBA journey.

"I knew things were different right away after that game," Tatum told reporters. "With one of our best players getting hurt, it meant there were more responsibilities I had to take on. But there's no better way to start your career than by playing probably the best guy in the league. I mean, I was still in awe of other guys, but I'm glad I got that out of the way early."

Tatum, 20, is averaging 18.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game in the postseason. He has scored at least 20 points in seven straight games, tying him with Donovan Mitchell for the second-longest such streak by a rookie.

“It’s being more aggressive,” Tatum said. “I’m looking to try to do more out there and just taking advantage of the opportunities that I’ve been given.

“We played two great teams so far, and with the close games that we’ve been in and the leads that we’ve had to come back from, I think that’s prepared us a lot for this next series. I played better in the second series than the first, so hopefully I can just keep improving each and every game.”

While he's more comfortable on the NBA stage than he was his first night, there are some answers Tatum just doesn't have. When asked how to stop LeBron earlier this week, Tatum flat-out told reporters, "I don't know."

Stopping James is impossible at this stage of his career, anyway. The Celtics know this. It wouldn't be a surprise to see them focus their efforts instead on shutting down Kevin Love and Kyle Korver, who became James' clear second and third bananas during the second round.