It took some extra time, but Jayson Tatum led the Boston Celtics to a gritty win in Thursday night’s playoff atmosphere showdown against visiting Golden State.
Tatum scored 34 points and grabbed a career high 19 rebounds to lead the Celtics to a 121-118 overtime victory against the defending NBA champion Warriors.
Tatum’s 48 on-court minutes tied his career-high in minutes Feb. 13, 2020 against the L.A. Clippers in a double-overtime victory.
Tatum pulled his team to the win despite a poor shooting night, hitting just 9-of-27 from the field, and 4-of-13 three-point shots. He also committed seven turnovers.
But his rebounding, 12-for-12 effort from the free-throw line, and leadership helped the Celtics escape with the victory.
Golden State led throughout much of the nationally televised game. The teams split their season series 1-1, with the Warriors winning on their home court earlier this season.
“I’m glad we won. It wasn’t pretty, but this was a great win of just figuring it out,” Tatum said following the game.
“Whether we won or lost tonight, we didn’t celebrate or hang a banner or anything, we still got a game on Saturday. So I think just coming in with that mindset of, January 19, it’s a Thursday and we’re playing against a really good team.
“No rematch of the Finals or anything like that. Not make it bigger than anything that it is. It’s one game. They all count as one. And I think we learned from that earlier in December, playing against them, and just came out a little bit more relaxed today than the first time.”
