On Saturday in Chicago, around 200 fans from St. Louis traveled near 300 miles on a MegaBus to see Jayson Tatum and the Celtics take on the Bulls.

The St. Louis residents that made the 4.5-hour trip to Chicago to see their hometown star saw a historic game, as Tatum made Celtics history in a career game for himself.

Tatum finished the game with 43-points on 16-of-24 shooting from the field and 9-of-15 from behind the arc. He also had 16 rebounds and 10 assists, making it the third triple-double of his career.

The last time a Celtics player recorded a 40-point triple-double was in 1992 by Larry Bird, which Tatum acknowledges now special it is to be in the same conversation as Bird.

“I think Larry Bird is probably the best player to wear this uniform and anytime you accomplish something in the same sentence as him is something special. Even if you never reach that pinnacle, that’s the standard around here. That’s the person I’m chasing. It means a lot to be in the same sentence as him.”

The Celtics went on to win 123-98. During his postgame press conference, Tatum mentioned that he always wanted to be a role model and an example for the people in St. Louis, making this career game even more special for him to do it in front of so many St. Louis natives.

“That hometown love, being somebody that people from back home support and look up to means the world. As a kid, that’s all I ever wanted, was to make it out of St. Louis and inspire people back home. For them to come out and support, it means the world to me.”

Tatum is living out his dream of inspiring his people in St. Louis, but he’s doing it in Boston and for people all over the world, as well.

Lastly, Tatum ended his night by delivering a quote that will make every franchise want to start a team with him and shows his character as a team player. His MVP stock is overlooked because of the team he’s on, but he doesn’t care.

“Probably so. I’m on a really, really good team. There’s so many talented players that I’m probably not going to put up the same numbers as some of those other guys and that’s perfectly fine with me, especially what we did in June last year. That’s the main focus, not me winning MVP, but for us to play at a high level and compete for championships year in and year out. If I accomplish that along the way, that would be amazing, but the main goal is for everybody to feel involved and everybody to play a part and that’s doing something special.”

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Photo Credit: Boston Celtics