Punishing putback jams, pinpoint backdoor passes, lightning-quick poke steals… The full arsenal was on display Monday night, as Nerlens Noel put together what was arguably his best game as a pro.

In a 105-87 loss to the Celtics, he finished with a career-high 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a pair of blocks in 29 minutes of action.

“Nerlens was the shining light,” said head coach Brett Brown after the game. “This was his best offensive game. I thought he made some great plays at the rim.

One of those plays was an explosive rejection of Jared Sullinger that came in the fourth quarter.

The game came on the tail end of four-game stretch in which the rookie big man had shot 26.9% from the field and had averaged just 5.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in a little over 30 minutes per game. In the last two games of that skid, he went a combined 1-for-12 from the field for a total of four points and 11 rebounds in 52 minutes.

“I was able to be more active and contribute to my team,” he said in the locker room after the game. “I’ve been working and continuing to stay confident, and I think it showed tonight. As this season goes along, I’ll continue to keep working and finding my open spots, and continue to progress.”

On the year, the 6’11” big man is sixth amongst rookies with 7.6 points per game, tops in rebounds (6.4 RPG) and steals per game (1.6 SPG), sixth in assists per game (1.6 APG), and second in blocks per game (1.4 BPG).

It’s his unique ability to fill the entire stat sheet that made Noel a prized recruit coming out of high school and a top prospect in the 2013 NBA Draft. Dating back to the 1994-95 season, he’s one of just nine big men to average at least 1.6 assists as a rookie, and during that same span he’s tied with Nene for the most multi-steal games (nine) among players at his position within the first 21 career games of their careers.

Additionally, and perhaps most impressively, he ranks seventh in the NBA in opponent field-goal percentage at the rim among players who face as many shots per game as he does there. On the 7.8 opponent attempts at the rim that he defends each game, Noel allows a 46.2% conversion rate; only Dwight Howard, Roy Hibbert, Serge Ibaka, Tim Duncan, DeMarcus Cousins, and Pau Gasol rank higher in that category.

Highlights