On Friday night, the Boston Celtics had yet another miracle comeback late in the game, this time overcoming the San Antonio Spurs and winning by a score of 143-140.
The biggest highlight of the game for the Celtics was by far Jayson Tatum‘s performance. Tatum scored 60 points, tying the franchise’s single game record set by Larry Bird back in 1985.
The 60 points came on 20-37 overall shooting and 5-7 from beyond the arc. Tatum’s scoring explosion comes just weeks after his electrifying 53 point performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
After the OT thriller, Tatum channeled his inner Wilt Chamberlain on the C’s official verified Twitter account:
6️⃣0️⃣ pic.twitter.com/MBbvmeuy9h
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 1, 2021
Tatum’s performance fueled the Celtics to a win pretty much by himself. Jaylen Brown had one of his worst shooting nights as a member of the Boston Celtics while Aaron Nesmith had his best outing. The rookie just came off a 15 point outing, making these two games his first back to back outings with 15+ points in each game.
The game looked to be out of reach early as the Spurs got out to a quick 39-16 lead. The Celtics were almost outplayed by the young guard duo of Dejounte Murray and Lonnie Walker IV who combined for 19-30 from the field and 48 points.
The two of them, alongside DeMar DeRozan’s 30 point and 14 assist performance, really helped keep the Spurs in the game up until the very end. The Spurs held a 32 point lead at one point and the Celtics were able to overcome it late and force overtime.
With the win, the Boston Celtics improve to 34-30 on the season with 8 games left. They currently sit at the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, tied with the Atlanta Hawks. With the playoffs right around the corner, the Celtics can theoretically jump up to the fourth seed with a collapse by the New York Knicks and a mediocre finish by the Hawks.
Hopefully, it won’t take more nights like this one to get to #4, but it’s apparent that even if it does, the superstar leap Tatum has taken this season should enable the Cs to soar as high as he takes them.