Jayson Tatumwith a spectacular play on the buzzer, gave him this Sunday a epic win by 115-114 to the boston celtics against the Brooklyn Nets to give him an advantage in the first game of the first round series of the NBA playoffs.
Kyrie Irving, with 18 of his 39 points in the fourth period, had given the Nets the lead with twelve seconds left, but Tatum completed his triumphant afternoon with a resounding playprecisely against Irving, to change the history of the game on the buzzer.
He turned around to get past Irving in the paint and supported two points to the board to finish with 31 pointsfour rebounds and eight assists, in the most spectacular game of this NBA playoff start.
The Boston team ended up winning, with four players over 20 points. Al Horford signed a tremendous double double of 20 points and fifteen rebounds, Jalen Brown scored 23 points and Marcus Smart sealed 20, with seven rebounds and six assists.
The Nets savored victory at the hands of their two stars, Irving and Kevin Durantwho scored 39 and 23 points, respectively.
The Celtics won and the Nets gave up, but both teams confirmed that this series is going to be one of the most intense of the first roundbetween franchises with completely different styles and whose rivalry sharpened after Irving left Boston for Brooklyn.
Intensity and hard play in the Garden
The Celtics themselves did not hesitate to warm up the atmosphere in a packed TD Garden, when hanging on the screens of the stadium some controversial statements by Bruce Brown, player of the Netsabout the fact that, in his opinion, neither the German Daniel Theis nor Al Horford know how to protect the rim like Robert Williams, out due to injury.
And the game was played in a very hot environmentwith Boston fans giving loud whistles every time Irving received the ball.
In this context, it was not surprising that the meeting was very intense, hard, with up to 18 fouls called in just the first quartera record this season.
The balance was maximum and remained intact at rest, with a 61-61. In the second half, both teams tried to hit the tablebut his attempts were followed by the character reactions of his rivals.
The Celtics, to the rhythm of Tatum and a fantastic Marcus Smart, they got a 7-0 run that gave them a fifteen-point lead at 84-69, which the Nets trimmed to eleven points to enter the fourth period.
Irving thrills the Nets
But that was not enough to contain the momentum of an Irving who scored 18 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter and that he drove a 13-0 run that gave the Nets an advantage.
Irving himself connected a resounding triple for Steve Nash’s men 114-111 that seemed to knock down the Celtics, but the story changed at the last breath.
Jalen Brown scored two points to bring his team within a point and Durant had the opportunity to sentence the encounteror on your team’s last play.
Tatum unleashes the euphoria of the Garden
However, his 3-pointer didn’t go in and Horford grabbed the rebound. The Celtics still had a timeout availablebut decided not to use it and played the last twelve seconds following instinct.
They were awarded. They moved the ball quickly and handed it to Tatum, who received it in the paint, turned around and unleashed the euphoria of the TD Garden with the victory basket.
The referees needed to review the play before validating the basket and officializing the victory of some Celtics who struck first in a series that is expected to be long and intense.