Jayson Tatum hit a 17-foot jumper at the overtime buzzer to cap a 40-point night. The Celtics beat the Nets 125-124 at TD Garden on Tuesday, and Brooklyn is 0-4. ESPN had it as Boston's third straight win. Our standings data has the Celtics at 2-1 with a two-game streak, so that count may include a preseason game.
Yahoo Sports' Ryan Young reported that the shot followed a mistake by Brooklyn's Mikel Brown. He tried to force a layup and missed at the other end instead of taking a foul. Young's summary doesn't say what the score or clock was at that point, and none of the other feeds mention the sequence. Sportsnet Video described the final play: Tatum caught the inbounds pass, turned and drove left to just behind the free-throw line, then rose and made the jumper. Deadspin called it an elbow jumper.
CelticsBlog's Stephen Hooper wrote that Brooklyn forced overtime on the final play of regulation and "outplayed the Celtics for large stretches" of both regulation and overtime. He also noted that Boston was on the second night of a back-to-back. The box score backs up some of that. Brooklyn made 17 of 50 threes to Boston's 11 of 41, and the Nets' 46-45 edge in field-goal percentage was close. The lead changed hands 10 times, and the Nets led for 70 percent of the game to Boston's 18.
Free throws were the gap. Boston went 30 of 38 and Brooklyn 17 of 22, and the Nets were whistled for 30 fouls to Boston's 24. Tatum alone made 18 of 22 from the line. He shot 10 of 20 from the field, 2 of 7 from three, and added 8 assists and 5 rebounds with no turnovers in 42 minutes. Paul George scored 20 and Derrick White 16 on 5-of-15 shooting. Jordan Walsh gave Boston 15 off the bench.
For Brooklyn, Michael Porter Jr. had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and Julius Randle had 24 points and 9 rebounds but also 5 turnovers and 6 fouls. Brown, the player at the centre of the late mistake, finished with 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting, including 4 of 11 from three, plus 5 assists. The loss follows a 136-109 home defeat to Indiana on Sunday and a 125-121 loss at Cleveland on Saturday. This is the second one-possession-or-so loss in three games, and Brooklyn sits last in the Atlantic.
Tatum's night was a rebound from the first half of the week. He scored 13 on 6-of-23 shooting in the Oct. 20 loss at Detroit, then 23 in Monday's 134-99 win over Chicago. The Celtics host Chicago again Friday, Oct. 30. The Nets host Detroit the same night, looking for their first win.
Discussion