Tatum’s 50 leads Celtics to 118-100 play-in win over Washington

Late in the third quarter, while trying to draw a call while burying a jumper over Ish Smith, Jayson Tatum turned and screamed at referee Scott Foster for not getting the call.

Say what you want about the Celtics star’s ongoing plea for more consideration from the officials, but on Tuesday night his was an on-demand world.

Tatum pulled the Celtics out of play-in hell with a 50-point performance that supplied the backbone of a 118-100 win over Washington, the fastest scoring team in the NBA. The Celtics will start their first round playoff series on Saturday in Brooklyn.

But with Bradley Beal playing through hamstring trouble on the way to 22 points, and Russell Westbrook at a relatively low 20-point ebb, the Celtics turned in their finest two-way performance in recent memory.

Tatum was relentless on the way to his third 50-plus performance of the season, shooting a season-best 17-for-17 from the line, and getting a strong supporting 29-point performance from Kemba Walker. Both players figured heavily in a 22-4 Celtics run early in the third quarter that gave the Celtics the lead for good.

Tatum’s 23-point third quarter, with the Celtics forward and Walker collaborating to open up space with a 22-4 run, was mainly responsible for a 90-80 lead and the team’s ability to just barely stay ahead of Beal and Westbrook.

Tatum started the fourth with 41 points, including 13-for-13 free throw shooting.

Evan Fournier, a quiet 1-for-4 from downtown to this point, gave the Celtics a big lift with 8:18 left with a corner three for a 98-86 lead. Though Davis Bertans took two of it back from the line, Tatum immediately drove Rui Hachimura to the rim for a 100-88 lead.

The run extended to 12-4 for a 110-90 lead, including Tatum’s fifth three of the night with 5:32 left.

The Celtics, thanks to six points from Tatum and another five from Walker in the last 2:32 of the second quarter, cut what had been an eight-point Washington lead to 54-52 by halftime.

Beal, playing through a hamstring injury, had heated up to score nine of his 13 points in the quarter, but good friend Tatum was right there with him, with 18 points at halftime to go along with another 12 from Walker.

Though Smart had returned from the locker room after turning his left ankle, Rob Williams later went to the locker room after landing hard following his block of a Westbrook shot. But Williams, too, returned to the floor to test out his tender (turf toe) foot.

Though he started the third, Williams checked back out quickly, 72 seconds in, and glumly walked back to the locker room as his teammates got off to a quick start, with Tatum’s three-point play triggering a 22-4 run that also included three consecutive 3-pointers from Walker. Tatum tacked on a turnaround 18-footer and a 3-pointer and, after a Daniel Gafford put-back, a layup and another 3-pointer for a 74-58 lead.

Washington hit back with a 10-2 run – staunched when Aaron Nesmith, sent in for Tatum, hit the Celtics’ 11th 3-pointer of the night.

The Celtics pushed the lead back out to 84-70 on five more points from Tatum, and then two more following a Beal 3-pointer.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3hCHWva