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Tatum provided 15 points (7-13 FG, 1-5 3Pt), four rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block across 26 minutes during Team USA's 155-124 loss to Team World in the Rising Stars Challenge.
The star rookie carried over his strong play into Friday's exhibition, with his scoring total checking in third on the team behind teammate Jaylen Brown and fellow first-year standout Kyle Kuzma. Tatum's learning curve has likely been accelerated by a significant amount as part of the domino effect of Gordon Hayward's catastrophic ankle injury on Opening Night, and the extra floor time has helped lead to averages of 13.5 points (on 47.5 percent shooting, including 42.7 percent from three-point range), 5.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists across 31.0 minutes in 59 games. While his 10.0 shot attempts per contest are a relatively modest amount that have capped his scoring contributions to an extent, Tatum should only get better as the Celtics push for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
