Jayson Tatum surpasses his idol to claim NBA playoffs record

"The reason I started to play this game, the reason I fell in love with this game," Jayson Tatum wrote on Instagram hours after news broke of his idol, Kobe Bryant, passing away four years ago.

On Monday, Bryant probably smiled up from above when his pupil captured his first NBA title. The "Black Mamba" would have been equally proud to discover that Tatum surpassed his long-standing record of most playoff points by any player before the age of 27.

Tatum surpassed Bryant by scoring 15 first-half points and eventually took a 17-point lead over the Lakers legend with his 31-point outing. Tatum had previously surpassed LeBron James on the same list.

Before the age of 27 (NBA playoffs history)

• Tatum: 113 games, 2,711 points, 1 NBA title
• Bryant: 119 games, 2,694 points, 3 NBA titles
• James: 92 games, 2,578 points, 0 NBA titles

It's rather remarkable Tatum has more playoff points in fewer games than Bryant at the same juncture of their careers.

Some would diminish Tatum's achievement by suggesting that Bryant wasn't a starter fresh out of the gate, averaging just 8.45 points off the bench in his first two postseason runs in 1997 and 1998. Similarly, James did not make the playoffs until his third year in the league, meaning he didn't get to kick off his postseason scoring tally until he turned 21.

Those are fair points. However, Tatum did the best possible job with the cards he was dealt. As a 19-year-old rookie, he was entrusted the keys to his team's offense, a burden he embraced by guiding the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2018.

Since then, Tatum has been nothing short of a model of consistency, powering the Celtics to four more conference finals appearances and two trips to the NBA Finals.

At his current pace, Tatum seems destined to shatter every postseason scoring record, especially with the Celtics making deep postseason runs every year. Case in point: Tatum has already surpassed Larry Bird for most playoff points through seven seasons in the history of the NBA.

Tatum won't turn 27 until next March.