Jayson Tatum, Enes Kanter post stat lines not reached by a Celtics player since Larry Bird

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Jayson Tatum had the best game of his young career for the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.

In the team's 140-105 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Tatum posted a career-high 41 points for the C's. He went 16 of 22 from the field and also grabbed six boards, four assists, and three steals in the rout.

But the most impressive part of Tatum's performance? He was able to top 40 points despite playing just 30 minutes in the game.

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And according to the NBA Stats Twitter account, Tatum was the first Celtics player to post that many points in 30 or fewer minutes since Larry Bird.

Safe to say, that's some pretty good company for Tatum to keep. Bird was a 12-time All-Star and won three NBA championships as a member of the Celtics. He was a great scorer in his day and ranks third in Celtics history with 21,791 points.

Tatum will hope to continue on a similar path to Bird. At 21, he has already established himself as one of the best young scorers in the game and should soon earn his first All-Star nod as well.

Tatum wasn't the only Celtics player to match a feat last accomplished by Bird during Saturday night's game. According to the Celtics Stats Twitter account, Enes Kanter became the first player since Bird to notch 20-plus points and 19-plus rebounds in a game.

That's certainly impressive as well, and it just speaks to the impact that Kanter is having as one of their most important bench players.

In his past 15 games, Kanter has averaged a double-double off the bench with 10.9 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.

Don't miss NBC Sports Boston's coverage of Bulls-Celtics, which tips off Monday at 7 p.m. with Celtics Pregame Live, and then Mike and Tommy have the call at 7:30 p.m. You can also stream the game on the MyTeams App.

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