CLEVELAND — Jayson Tatum struggled mightily against the Cavs in the second half on Tuesday night as the Celtics’ 11-game winning streak came to a crashing halt in the fourth quarter. Cleveland rallied from a 22-point deficit in the final nine minutes, pulling off the biggest fourth-quarter rally in franchise history with a 105-104 win.
Tatum (1-of-10 in the second half) was front and center for the collapse, running down the clock at the end of regulation on a potential game-winning shot attempt. A video review reversed a foul call on the jumpshot, effectively sealing the win for Cleveland.
“It was unfortunate, I thought I got fouled but they didn’t think I got fouled and it’s tough because we got, we would have had the tip in,” Tatum said. “Just a weird way to end the game but they always say the game isn’t won or loss on the last play. There’s a lot of things that we didn’t do well, in that fourth quarter that put us in that position.”
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Tatum was also pressed about Boston’s issues in crunch time dating back to the last few postseasons but stood up for his team even in the face of an ugly defeat.
“We’re not perfect but we’ve done a better job this season,” Tatum said. “Could have did a better job tonight. Maybe our spacing, our execution, working to get a great shot, have to do that every single time. I think we’ve been pretty good this year with crunch time offense, but tonight just, we didn’t do a good enough job and that’s ok as long as we respond and fix it.”
Joe Mazzulla also saw some growth opportunities as the team’s nine-game road winning treak also came to a halt.
“I thought it was really good for us to be in that situation,” Mazzulla said. “Composed is one thing, executing is another. So I thought we were composed. I just don’t think we had great execution on some of the possessions. So I think the possessions where we didn’t score on, there’s a couple really good possessions there. But execution isn’t about the result. So I’d say half, a little bit over half of the possessions, we got really good looks on, executed well. And then on the other ones you just gotta get a couple better shots.”
Tatum and the Celtics will look for a chance to bounce back on Thursday night when they face the defending champions in Denver.
