BOSTON – When NBA.com dropped its weekly MVP Ladder Friday morning, there was a noteworthy change among the top five potential candidates. The three leaders – Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Giannis Antetokounmpo – stood pat, but Nos. 4 and 5 had swapped places with Jayson Tatum leapfrogging Luka Doncic to his highest position since Week 4 of the season.
Naturally, this sparked quite the Internet debate throughout the day. But come nighttime, Tatum and Doncic had the opportunity to settle the discussion on the court at TD Garden.
We’ll just say NBA.com made the right adjustment.
Doncic played like a top-five MVP candidate, putting up 37 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists.
However, Tatum was more effective. He put up a more efficient 32 points, outscored Doncic 21-14 in the second half, and helped to lead the Celtics to a 138-110 blowout win.
It marked the second time this season that Tatum has outperformed Doncic after scoring 39 points on 52.4 percent shooting to Doncic’s 33 points on 40.0 percent shooting during a 119-110 Celtics win on Jan. 22 at Dallas.
In those two games combined, Tatum outscored Doncic 71-70 while attempting 15 fewer shots. He was also plus-44 in those two games, compared to Doncic at minus-33. So what’s there to debate?
