Epic high school faceoff now bleeds into Jalen Brunson-Jayson Tatum NBA ‘alpha dog' war
BOSTON — A decade later, Jalen Brunson is looking to beat Jayson Tatum.
The stage is very different — the Eastern Conference semifinals instead of a nonconference high school showdown — but not all that much has changed between the two.
Ten years ago, they were elite players, and that is still the case, the stars for their respective teams in this Knicks-Celtics playoff series.
It was January 2015, when Tatum and Brunson put on a show in the Cancer Research Classic in Wheeling, West Va., the two combining for 87 points in a memorable contest that saw Tatum's Chaminade High School (Mo.) knock off Brunson's Stevenson (Ill.) 88-81.
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