St. Louisan Jayson Tatum has accomplished many great things in the playoffs during his career with the Boston Celtics.
On Sunday, Tatum added a triple-double to that list of accomplishments in the Celtics’ 114-94 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference playoffs in Boston. The Celtics took a 1-0 lead in the best of seven first-round series.
The former Chaminade College Prep All-American had 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the No. 1 seed Celtics to its impressive opening game victory. Tatum achieved the career milestone in playing a team-high 41 minutes.
Tatum’s 23 points led six Celtics’ players in double figures. He was followed by Derrick White with 20 points, Kristaps Porzingis with 18 points and Jaylen Brown with 17. Sam Hauser and Al Horford came off the bench to score 12 and 10 points, respectively.
There was a scary moment for Celtics fans near the end of the game when Tatum was undercut while in mid-air by Miami’s Caleb Martin and came crashing to the floor on his back. Fortunately, he was able to pop right back up and he went to the free throw line to make his free throws.Â
The Celtics-Heat will resume on Wednesday with Game 2 at Boston. Tip-off is schedule for 6 p.m.
