Over the course of an NBA season, you learn that not all regular season games are created equal.
Which brings us to last night.
#1 team in the East vs #1 team in the West.
But to any Celts fan who watched how that game unfolded, it felt like more.
That wasn’t just your run of the mill early January regular season win.
It was a win that told us this team has guts.
It was a win that confirmed what we already knew, that this team is a fucking wagon.
It was a win that put us through every human emotion possible over the course of 48+ minutes.
And maybe most importantly, it was a win that you see a champion have.
Last night was one of those moments.
It was a massive win.
We may as well jump right in.
Jayson Tatum entered the 4th quarter at the 8:14 mark with the Celtics down 93-87.
You could make the case that the game was in the balance at this moment.
This was time for Tatum to show the world why he’s Jayson Tatum.
From that moment on, Tatum was the best player on earth.
In the biggest moments of the game, who showed up?
Jayson Tatum
Look at that shit!
The OT drive on KAT was a great example of that.
Then when it came time to deliver the Kiss Of Death, Tatum delivered that dagger with confidence.
For those of us who watch Tatum every night, it was more of the same.
This is who he is and what he does.
Let the talking heads slander his name just for the engagement.
None of that shit matters.
Stepbacks, sidesteps, catch and shoots, pullups, it’s all been cash since the Clippers win.
When he’s at this level, I’m not sure what an opposing team can do.
What a player, what a performance.
- And yet, it gets even better.
All he did was finish with 35/11/3/2/1 with 2 TOs in his 43 minutes.
Remember all the hate Jaylen got for a random down performance in early November?
Weird anti-Jaylen fans were foaming at the mouth to unleash insane hate.
Do we all see how insane that shit is?
It’s so fucking stupid.
The reason the Celtics are a wagon is becaue of BOTH Tatum and Brown.
80 combined points from the Jays.
Insane defense from both down the stretch.
All against one of the best team in the league.
First, there was the corner three
Just a massive shot.
Fortunately for us, Holiday wasn’t done.
The Tatum Kiss Of Death three?
These may have just been two plays, but the Celtics do not win the game without both.
- I’ve watched a lot of Celtics teams in my lifetime.
Some great, most not so great.
All my life I heard about the Russell Celtics, the Bird Celtics etc.
How dominant they were and how things were just “different” back then.
So, to see something like this
Is pretty insane.
No Russell team, no Halvicek team, no Bird team, no Pierce team etc.
A Jayson Tatum team?
I mean holy shit.
They are way too good of a shooting team to be dicking around like that from the FT line.
As we saw last night, FTs are important.
Had the Celts done that again last night, this is not a win.
- Another solid performance from Joe who continues to have a very good Year 2.
He’ll never get the credit he deserves and that’s fine.
If you actually watch the games you could see how much better he’s been.
That’s been a trend that’s existed since December, and we’re not basically in mid January.
Call it the JJ Redick podcast curs, call it just a random slump, do whatever you want.
The fact remains that over his last 4 games we’re seeing Derrick put up 31/27% splits.
That’s pretty brutal.
Just like the others did, White will break out of this slump too.
But I also can’t sit here and tell you he’s been good during this stretch.
- Naz Reid is officially stamped as a Celtics killer.
It’s annoying, but he’s also really good so I get it.
The Ugly
- What the hell was going on at the end of the first and second quarter?
Seriously, how does anyone possibly explain these possessions?
- Pretty gross 3rd quarter all things considered.
They allowed 44 points against IND the other night, and then another 32 last night on those splits.
That cannot continue to happen.
