As Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum lay on the Madison Square Garden floor last May, he and his teammates and opponents knew something was seriously wrong. The next day, Tatum underwent surgery to repair his ruptured right Achilles tendon. With Tatum out, the Celtics lost that second round NBA playoff series to the New York Knicks. Many assumed this season would be a wash, too.
Still, less than a year after his devastating injury, Tatum is back. And on Friday night, he had another vintage postseason performance, scoring 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter to help the Celtics defeat the Philadelphia 76ers, 108-100, in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first round series. The Celtics are ahead two games to one heading into Sunday’s Game 4 in Philadelphia.
Tatum returned to action on March 6 and appeared in 16 regular season games, averaging 21.8 points, 10 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 32.6 minutes per game and shooting 41.1% from the field and 32.9% on 3-pointers.
In the playoffs, the Celtics are relying even more on Tatum, who is playing nearly 38 minutes per game. And he is delivering. On Friday, he was on the court for the entire fourth quarter and for a total of 42 minutes and 25 seconds, the most since Game 1 of last year’s Knicks series.
Besides the 25 points Friday, Tatum finished with seven assists and just one turnover and made 9 of 17 shots, including 5 of 9 on 3’s. He scored 17 points in the second half and made six of his eight field goal attempts, including a 3 that put the Celtics ahead 100-96 with 1:58 remaining and a 3 that made it 106-100 with 25.3 seconds left following Derrick White’s clutch offensive rebound. After 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey missed two 3’s on the other end, White connected on a pair of free throws to clinch the win.
“I just missed being a part of moments like that, where it’s a back and forth game,” said Tatum, who is averaging 23 points, 9.7 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game and shooting 49.1% from the floor in the series. “We had some moments where things didn’t go our way, and then we had to fight back and get the lead. It was just a figure it out type of game and make winning plays.”
Tatum wasn’t the only Boston player to come through when it mattered most. Jaylen Brown scored eight of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, while White made a layup midway through the final quarter to go along with the late offensive rebound and final two free throws Guard Payton Pritchard also made a 3-pointer with less than a second remaining on the shot clock, giving Boston a 103-98 lead with 1:17 left.
In the fourth quarter, Pritchard played all 12 minutes, while fellow reserve Nikola Vucevic appeared in all but 25 seconds. Pritchard finished with 15 points on 5 of 10 3’s, and Vucevic had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists. They played a pivotal role in the win, as did the veterans in White, Tatum and Brown, who have appeared in 86, 124 and 138 career playoff games, respectively.
“We’ve been in this scenario time and time again,” Tatum said. “We’ve fallen short and we’ve succeeded. It’s all about just learning from past experiences.”
Said Brown: “We’ve been there before, so no moment is too big. We just make big time plays – big time shot by Payton, big time rebound by D. White and then JT finished it off.”
The 76ers, meanwhile, do not have as much experience in the playoffs, especially with center Joel Embiid missing another game after undergoing emergency appendicitis surgery on April 9 in Houston. Embiid missed Philadelphia’s last three regular season games as well as the play-in game victory over the Orlando Magic and the first three games of this series. Embiid has practiced and participated in workouts the past couple of days, but the 76ers have not disclosed when or if he will return this series.
Even with Embiid sidelined, the 76ers led 86-85 Friday on a Maxey 3 with 8:41 remaining. The Celtics then went on an 8-0 run, but the 76ers got to within 100-98 on a Paul George shot off the backboard and to 103-100 on Kelly Oubre’s free throws with a minute remaining. But Philadelphia didn’t score again and lost even as six Philadelphia players scored in double figures, led by Maxey’s game-high 31.
After making just 13 of 50 3-pointers in a 111-97 loss in Tuesday’s Game 2 in Boston, the Celtics connected on 20 of 47 3’s Friday and won despite committing 17 turnovers.
“This was like a Game 7 for us,” Brown said. “Even though it’s a long series, we definitely wanted to come back and respond after dropping one on our home floor. You can’t lose two games in a row in the playoffs. That’s tough, so this was a big win for us.”
The 76ers are holding out hope Embiid can return for Sunday or Tuesday’s Game 5 in Boston. If so, Philadelphia could have a shot at winning a series against the Celtics for the first time since 1982. But the Celtics remain the favorite, especially with Tatum returning close to his old form.
“He’s been incrementally getting better and stronger and getting more physical,” Brown said. “He’s getting downhill at a higher level than he did when he started, but we do it as a team. We win as a team and lose as a team. In those moments, I’ve got nothing but trust for Jayson Tatum.”
After Friday’s victory, Tatum said he is still not fully healthy and back to how he felt before his Achilles injury. Still, he is contributing at a high level for a team with NBA title aspirations.
“I’ve been able to do a really good job of keeping things in perspective,” Tatum said. “I was out for such a long time. It may not seem like it because I’m back playing, but it was a very, very long time for me to not be doing what I love to do. I can’t stress it enough – the fact that I just get to put my uniform on and run out there with the team is a win for me.”
