BOSTON — While Jayson Tatum missed his first look at a game-winner Saturday against the Raptors, he had another shot at redemption. Sure, his shot at the end of regulation was off — he called it a “horrible miss” — but basketball always delivers more opportunities. And this time, Tatum came through, hitting the buzzer-beating 3-pointer as the Celtics to a 126-123 win Saturday over the Raptors in overtime.
But the game-winning play met initial resistance. It’s a play the Celtics run frequently, Tatum said, as he’s given multiple reads based off what the defense is doing. So when Jaylen Brown sprinted from the corner to receive the ball, it looked like he was going to get a shot. But instead, Davion Mitchell knocked Brown to the ground.
“Just from my view running off the double-screen pin-down, he got knocked off-balance and I thought it was gonna be a foul,” Tatum said. “So I waited for a second, they didn’t call it, and I wanted to wait for the very last shot. I didn’t want to give them a chance to maybe rebound it and have some time left. That’s all we talk about really is make sure we take the last shot.”
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After Tatum recollected himself, the clock continued to run down as he had a few more seconds before making his move. Mitchell helped as a defender briefly after Brown was essentially taken out of the play, though Mitchell had to retreat back in case Tatum passed to Brown a few moments later. Tatum sized up Ochai Agbaji in the process, and after three dribbles, he let the 30-foot 3-pointer fly with roughly 0.4 seconds on the clock. Tatum put up 24 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists as he again nearly missed a triple-double. There were also some more nuances on the play, which Tatum dug into postgame.
“It’s a play that we run frequently throughout the game,” Tatum said. “I get a live catch, they play split action on the other side. Sam Hauser gets a lot of 3s off that action, so we have different reads. The point guard, (Derrick White) pops back for a flare, I could throw it to him if I want to attack the match up. So it’s never like, ‘Do this exact thing.’ It’s just Joe puts us in positions and just read what they give me.”
So, it all worked out for the Celtics even though Brown thought he got fouled on the play. Brown said he couldn’t be too mad considering they won and he got to the free throw line plenty anyway throughout the night. Brown finished with 27 points, including a 9-for-10 showing at the free throw line.
“All game, the level of physicality — which I’m cool with to a certain extent — but if you’re going to allow them to use two hands and try to stop me, allow me to use my physical gifts as well,” Brown said. “And I feel like all night, they were just doing that, just trying to knock you off-balance, using two hands. I shot a decent amount of free throws tonight so I’m not really upset about it, but that last play I thought was a foul for sure. But I’m just glad we got the win.”
C’s coach Joe Mazzulla added they were in a “unique spot” because they got the ball with 20.2 seconds left. He said he didn’t want to just dribble around and keep the defense static, so they wasted some time advancing the ball up the court out of the timeout. Then they ran one of their “normal plays” where he’s giving Tatum multiple options. As Mazzulla often explains, basketball is a read-and-react game, and that’s exactly how Tatum adapted on the fly in a high-pressure situation.
Al Horford said that the main priority at the end of the game there is to also ensure they got the last shot of the game. Considering it was tied, the Celtics didn’t need to go early for the offensive rebound and risk the Raptors getting one last look with some time left on the clock. So the C’s were able to control the clock at the end as Tatum shot their way to the win.
“Some reads didn’t work out,” Horford said. “Him taking that shot, that’s a shot that I constantly see him working on and that’s something that he’s confident in and then we’re confident in him and for him to knock it down tonight was big for our group. Going into the second overtime, that wouldn’t have been it. But for me, the most impressed I was with was him continuing to put in that work”
