Celtics' Jayson Tatum, Jalen Brunson High School Matchup Resurfaces Ahead of Series

The Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks have lots of history as Eastern Conference rivals. The Celtics have had much more success over the years as a franchise, but the Knicks have recently risen towards the top of the East as consistent threats.

The top players on each team also have an interesting history going all the way back to high school. Every time both players are in the public eye, a viral clip of the two facing off in high school seems to resurface. That is no different heading in their second-round series.

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Jalen Brunson vs Jayson Tatum 10 years ago…

Brunson 48 pts
Tatum 39 pts pic.twitter.com/Q6GoY5I2oX
— NYKTerry (@NykTerry) May 3, 2025

Watching the highlights is extremely fun, whether you are a fan of either player or not. Both look pretty similar to how they play now, which is a fun part of the development of NBA players.

Tatum looks huge compared to everyone else, which, given how he plays like a guard, isn't all that different from how he looks in the NBA at times.

Brunson, despite being smaller, was showing off his strength and craftiness even back in high school. He has multiplied that craftiness and strength combination by a 1000.

With the stakes much higher in this series, it will be interesting to see how well each player plays. Both players are still dominant scorers on their respective teams, but the difference in the series could be how much each player can get others involved.

That doesn't mean a huge scoring showdown won't happen in this series. It would be especially epic for this type of showdown to go down at Madison Square Garden, whose atmosphere is famous in the NBA.

Celtics fans would rather not watch Brunson put up nearly 50 points in any game during the series because that is likely how the Knicks will win the series, but it would be fun to watch nonetheless for the other NBA fans.

To prevent this kind of game from Brunson, the return of Jrue Holiday from injury is a big storyline to follow. The Celtics had about a week since their last series, so he should be good to go, but he is definitely the best defender to try and keep Brunson in check.

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For the Knicks, their best shot of slowing down Tatum is likely OG Anunoby, who has done a pretty good job against Tatum throughout his career, going back to his days with the Toronto Raptors.

While a reenactment of this viral clip in the playoffs would be fun for NBA fans, Celtics fans will be hoping just Tatum can reach high scoring numbers during this series to allow the Celtics to make it past the Knicks as quickly and efficiently as possible.

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