Jayson Tatum has been coming under fire for his somewhat quiet postseason, at least by his own lofty standards. But he brought the heat on Saturday night.
His 33 points, 13 rebounds and six assists led the Boston Celtics to a 106-93 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, giving them an important 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Jaylen Brown had himself a night (28 points, nine boards) as well, spoiling another brilliant showing from Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell (33 points, six rebounds). It looked like the Celtics might run away with this one after starting off the second half on a 14-0 run, pushing their lead to 23 points. The Cavaliers woke up from there, keeping things interesting in the fourth quarter, but they weren’t able to make up the deficit they dug for themselves.
Coming into Saturday night, Tatum was averaging 21.7 points on 40.7 percent shooting from the field and 26.8 percent shooting from three, all well below his season averages (26.9 PPG, 47.1 percent from the field, 37.6 percent from three).
It had everyone wondering when the Tatum from the regular season might show up. The 26-year-old star has been prone to running hot and cold in his career, especially come the postseason, but he reminded the NBA world of what he’s capable of when he doesn’t just settle for contested jumpers late in the shot clock.
His aggression was important, even if his struggles from three (2-of-8 from deep) persisted. The Celtics aren’t the same without Kristaps Porziņģis, but Tatum and Brown remain enough to take down a team like the Cavaliers if they play up to their respective ceilings.
They proved as much in Game 3.
