BOSTON – Jayson Tatum made a statement for the Boston Celtics on Thursday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On a night where the Celtics didn’t have Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis, who had to endure a difficult road stretch, Tatum delivered an MVP performance on both ends of the floor Boston’s 118-115 victory.

Tatum was a wizard on offense as he flirted with a triple-double, and on defense he was in lockdown mode after taking on the challenge of guarding Minnesota star Anthony Edwards.

The NBA world loves Edwards, a flashy MVP candidate who can light up the scoreboard with ease. But he was no match for Tatum on Thursday night. On a night where the Celtics made things difficult for Minnesota’s star player, the Boston star influenced the game in a variety of ways with relative ease.

Tatum finished the game with 33 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, leading all players in all three categories. It wasn’t his most efficient night, as Tatum was just 6 of 17 from deep and 13 of 27 overall. But he took the lead after halftime with 16 points in the third quarter, when he made seven of his 10 attempts to give the Celtics a six-point lead in the final frame.

It didn’t matter who was guarding Tatum; Chances are they wouldn’t stop him. Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker were no match for Tatum, and even Rudy Gobert was completely lost when he had the misfortune of finding himself in a rotation on Tatum.

Jayson Tatum drives past Gobert for the slam pic.twitter.com/bz8kCAJYOj

— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) January 3, 2025

The Timberwolves tried to send double teams on Tatum midway through the fourth, but he burned them with his passing game. Two quick assists to Al Horford (one for a three-pointer, one for an easy layup) increased Boston’s lead to seven points with five minutes to play and forced Minnesota to scrap that game plan. Tatum distributed three of his helpers in the final quarter.

Derrick White replaced Brown with 26 points (half of them in the fourth quarter) and Sam Hauser added 15 in his spot start. But the victory had Tatum’s fingerprints all over it.

“He did great tonight. His ability to execute, he really just made the shots he wanted,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said after the win. “Obviously he took some great shots.”

But Mazzulla was even more impressed with Tatum on defense when his star player asked to defend Edwards while Brown was sidelined for the contest.

“I just thought his intentionality on offense was really good. He started the evening doing what he wanted with Edwards. I thought he accepted the challenge,” Mazzulla said.

Jayson Tatum, Celtics, slowed down Anthony Edwards

While Tatum shined on offense, Edwards struggled throughout. And when Edwards isn’t active offensively, the Wolves have a hard time winning games.

With Tatum (and White at times) Edwards managed just 15 points on 5 of 16 shooting. With just over a minute left in an eight-point game, he missed an open layup and missed a three-pointer, and at the end of the game he missed a clean look at a potential game-winning three-pointer.

Tatum and the Celtics made life difficult for Edwards by forcing him to go left. Mazzulla praised Tatum for taking on the challenge.

“That’s the key for us to get to where we want to go if he takes that, so that’s a credit to him,” Mazzulla said of Tatum, whose three steals in the game tripled the Wolves’ team total.

“It wasn’t a one-man job,” said a humble Tatum. “We increased our intensity and physicality as a unit. We tried to make it difficult for him. I didn’t want to let him play one on one. I just wanted to show body and make it as uncomfortable as possible. When the best players are there. “The league feels comfortable, it’s tough, so you have to try things to throw them off the field.”

Boston’s defensive game plan against Edwards took the All-Star completely out of the game and lingered on his mind in the locker room.

“That was a good brand of basketball, but I don’t want to play like that,” Edwards told reporters after the loss. “I mean, I’m only 23. I don’t want to just pass the ball all night. But the way they protected me, I think I had to do it.”

Almost all of Anthony Edwards’ stoppage time was dominated by his frustration at the way teams impose two goals on him, depriving him of his chances of scoring and forcing him to leave the ball.

“Of course it’s not the way I want to play. I’m only 23, I… pic.twitter.com/7bJdFS6zeU

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) January 3, 2025

How well did the Boston plan work? Edwards said it was “extremely difficult” for him to stay in the game because he wasn’t scoring goals.

“It doesn’t completely take me out of the game,” he said. “But it definitely frustrates me a little bit. When they double-team me, it’s like, ‘Brother, what’s going on?’ I’m trying to figure it out, man.

Thursday’s win was a great start for Boston to a tough four-game road trip that continues Friday night in Houston. The Celtics won on a night when they didn’t have Brown, and on a night when the downtown team shot just 22 of 58 thanks to another MVP performance from Tatum.

The Celtics have now won the season series with the Wolves, giving Minnesota’s star player something to think about if these two teams meet again in the summer.