Jayson Tatum put the Boston Celtics on his back and carried his team to a 118-100 win over the Washington Wizards by dropping 50 points in Tuesday’s NBA play-in game.
Tatum shot 14-of-32 shooting from the field. He also was 17-of-17 from the free throw line. His most impressive stretch came in the third quarter. After trailing Washington 54-52 at halftime, Tatum scored 23 points in the third quarter.
The Celtics rode him to a 17-2 run that flipped the complexion of the game.
Tatum also finished with eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal. He was a plus-25 as well.
Wizards head coach Scott Brooks tried a bit of everything in Washington’s switch defense. However, it was no match for the red-hot Tatum.
It didn’t matter if it was Russell Westbrook, Ish Smith, Davis Bertans or whoever, Tatum was determined to knock down key buckets. That’s when he wasn’t be aggressive to get to the charity stripe.
The 50 points is Tatum’s playoff career-high. He scored 60 points during a regular season game last month. Thus, the chances of him firing the Wizards up was likely for a Celtics team that was without Jaylen Brown.
Kemba Walker stepped up to aid Tatum, adding 29 points and seven rebounds.
Boston grabs the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference with the win. They will face the Brooklyn Nets in a best-of-seven series.
The Wizards, however, will move down into a winner or go home match-up against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday in Washington. The winner will claim the 8th seed in the East and face the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. The loser’s season ends.
